Journal of the California Garden & Landscape History Society Vol. 14 No. 2 • Spring 2011 Beatrix Farrand in Southern California, 1927−1941 Ann Scheid

eatrix Farrand moved to Southern California in 1927, 1924, and in 1926 he accepted the ―alluring opportunity‖3 B when her husband, Max Farrand, became the first to head the newly established Huntington Library in San director of the Huntington Library in San Marino. Born Marino. Beatrix Jones in 1872 to one of New York‘s leading fami- Max Farrand had been the choice of George Ellery lies, she showed an early interest in nature and the out-of- Hale, famous astronomer and adviser to Henry Huntington. doors. Beatrix became the protégée of Charles Sprague Probably Hale had also been behind the invitation to Max Sargent, first director of the Arnold Arboretum in Boston, in the previous year to spend time at the California Insti- with whom she began serious study in 1893. Her studies tute of Technology (Caltech).4 Hale‘s vision for the new were supplemented by extensive European travel, visiting library as a world-class research institution required an gardens in England, France, Italy, and even Algiers. She eminent scholar at its head to organize the scholarly pro- was also no doubt influenced by her aunt, Edith Wharton, gram and to attract leading scholars to carry out research in whose book Italian Villas and Their Gardens (1903) pro- the rich collection of rare books and manuscripts assem- moted the fundamentals of formal garden design— bled by Huntington. fundamentals that Beatrix ap- As the former head of plied in her own work. She set Yale‘s history department up her office in her family home and established scholar of on East 11th Street in New York Constitutional history, Max City in 1896, and by 1899, Farrand was clearly an out- helped by her family‘s social standing choice for the di- connections, Beatrix Jones was rector‘s position.5 Beatrix‘s established enough to become role was less clear. In his the only woman among the 11 offer of the position to Max, founders of the American Soci- Hale wrote: ―Please tell ety of Landscape Architects Mrs. Farrand that I enjoyed (ASLA).1 reading her interesting de- Beatrix Jones met Max Far- scription of the planting rand, Princeton graduate and scheme for Yale, and hope professor of history at Yale, over we can find a way to profit dinner at the president‘s house at here by her admirable meth- Princeton, where Farrand had ods.‖6 been asked to advise about the Although the Farrands campus plan.2 Married in lived in California for nearly 1913—she 41 and he 44—they 14 years, Beatrix Farrand settled in New Haven, where did relatively little work Max had taught history since here. This may be attributed 1908. Impatient to spend more to various factors. The Far- time doing research and writing, Max and Beatrix Farrand at the Director’s House, rands divided their time Max resigned his post at Yale in Huntington Library, 1930s. between San Marino and Courtesy Bar Harbor Historical Society, Bar Harbor, Maine. (Continued on next page.) Beatrix Farrand in Southern California (continued)

Reef Point, their summer home in Bar Harbor, Maine. Al- fountain and wall at the foot of the garden, and an allée of though she spent considerable time in San Marino, Beatrix oak trees leading to the estate grounds―indicate her predi- continued her practice in the East and therefore traveled lections. The fragments of her other jobs, at Caltech, Hale back and forth, spending months working on projects on Solar Lab, and especially Occidental College, leave us the East Coast and in Chicago. She did have a studio built wishing that she had been able to do more. Her inability in San Marino, linked by a pergola to the Director‘s House to bring her talents to bear on the land right outside her on the Huntington grounds, and she corresponded with front door must have been a continuous source of inner local clients on stationery letterhead from 1151 Oxford frustration to her. Road, San Marino. Inevitably, though, her months away Garden for George Ellery Hale and the Hale Solar made it difficult to establish a full-time practice locally; Laboratory (Building, 1924; Garden, 1928) she never had an office of draftsmen and support personnel Farrand‘s first garden in Southern California was for Dr. in California. In the case of Occidental College, her big- George Ellery Hale, who had commissioned Pasadena ar- gest Southern California job, she relied on the office of chitects Johnson, Kaufmann & Coate to design a solar ob- architects Myron Hunt and H.C. Chambers to produce the servatory for his retirement years. Hale, renowned scientist drawings, which she then approved before authorizing the and Renaissance man, had traveled through Europe as a work. young man with architect and city planner Daniel Burn- Yet Farrand‘s reputation as one of the leading land- ham, a family friend and architect of the Hale family home scape architects of her day (although she styled herself in Chicago. As chairman of the Astronomy section of the ―Landscape Gardener‖) ought to have attracted the sort of 1893 Chicago World‘s Fair, Hale had also worked with prestigious clientele that she enjoyed in the East and Mid- Burnham directly. Hale had come to Pasadena in 1904 to west. Her work at Yale University, University of Chicago, establish an observatory on Mt. Wilson, a site favored by and Princeton established her as one of the leading design- the clear and still air that was ideal for astronomical obser- ers of college campuses, and the list of her private clients, vations. Envisioning a scientific institution on the West headed by such New York names as Rockefeller, J.P. Mor- Coast to rival his alma mater, Massachusetts Institute of gan, Pratt, and Harkness, was illustrious. Perhaps indeed it Technology (MIT), Hale brought leading researchers in was forbidding, since the elite of Pasadena came primarily chemistry, physics, and biology to Pasadena‘s Throop In- from Midwestern industrial cities: Cleveland, Cincinnati, stitute, transforming it into the California Institute of Tech- Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City. nology (later to be more familiarly known as Caltech). Beatrix Farrand‘s position at the Huntington, one of Hale gained the confidence of Henry Huntington, persuad- the great estate gardens of the region, was clear from the ing him to leave his estate, library, and art collections for beginning. Her reputation as a landscape architect and her research and public benefit. He also headed a civic effort to position as the wife of the Director ought to have given her create a city plan for Pasadena that produced Pasadena‘s the opportunity to work on the design of the estate. How- nationally recognized Civic Center. ever, it was impossible to displace the longtime head of the Located on the Huntington ranch just north of the pre- gardens, William Hertrich, who, together with Henry sent Huntington grounds, Hale‘s property occupied an L- Huntington, had developed the estate from its beginnings shaped lot next to a large reservoir that served the estate. in 1905. Hertrich maintained strict control of the grounds. Beatrix Farrand began working on the plan for the garden Max Farrand noted in a 1929 letter: ―As conditions are in early 1928. In a letter to Hale, she explained her busi- now, even I have to make special arrangements to enter the ness arrangement for implementing the design. There property any time before 9 o‘clock or to remain after 4:30 would be no charge for her time, but she would charge for or to come on a Sunday except during the exhibition hours her expenses, such as typing, blueprints, tracings, photo- 7 two Sundays each month.‖ graphs, telephone, travel, etc. She suggested that plants be Hertrich was a plantsman, not a garden designer, so it purchased through her, since she could obtain a profes- is interesting to speculate how Beatrix Farrand might have sional discount from nurseries. Her invoice for the six- designed and developed the magnificent site, relating the month period January−June 1928 shows four site visits, grounds to the architecture, creating more focused axes consultations with contractors and with ―Miss Bashford,‖ and spaces, and easing the visitor‘s progress through the referring to Katherine Bashford, well-known local land- 8 gardens, which were opened to the public in 1927. scape architect. Total charge was $105.9 Farrand‘s small touches around the Director‘s Farrand‘s work for Hale was colored by her and her House―a terrace at the rear of the house, formal planting husband‘s close personal friendship with Hale and his beds beside the studio she had built for her work, a wife, Evelina. Correspondence reveals that Beatrix gave

______

2 Eden: Journal of the California Garden & Landscape History Society Vol. 14 No. 2 • Spring 2011 Beatrix Farrand in Southern California (continued)

Farrand’s plan for the grounds centers on the dome of the observatory. The top (south) elevation shows orange trees marking the auto court and the driveway to the street. The elevation on the right (west elevation) shows the cypress trees screening the south garden from the street and neighboring properties. Courtesy Environmental Design Archives, University of California, Berkeley.

Hale a copy of her aunt Edith Wharton‘s book on Italian dome. The sketch and information in the correspondence gardens and villas; Hale loaned her a book by Edward in the Caltech Archives indicate an Italian cypress hedge Lear; Hale sent her a book while she was recuperating outlining the south garden (now destroyed).12 Her garden from a illness; Beatrix reported on her visit with Henry design originally called for a long reflecting pool, later Breasted, Egyptologist at the University of Chicago and changed to a flagged walk with tiled steps and provision Hale‘s close friend.10 At Evelina‘s behest, Beatrix ap- for a runnel down the center. A curved wall at the south proached the Garden Club of America on behalf of The end was to partially enclose the proposed pool. Diggers, an insurgent Pasadena garden club petitioning to Twenty-seven orange trees were planted to outline the become a member of the GCA, alongside the already es- entrance drive, the auto forecourt, and the interior of the tablished Pasadena Garden Club.11 south garden. A flagstone platform marks the entrance to Farrand‘s sketch for the Hale property shows a formal the observatory, where a bas-relief portraying the Egyptian axial plan centering on the dome of the observatory build- pharaoh Akhenaten by sculptor Lee Lawrie is above the ing. Both the entrance drive and the axis of the south gar- door. The sun‘s rays end in the ankh, the symbol of life; den, which terminates in a circular pool, point toward the the design is borrowed from the royal tomb at Amarna, the (Continued on page 4.) ______

Eden: Journal of the California Garden & Landscape History Society · Vol. 14 No.. 2 • Spring 2011 3 Beatrix Farrand in Southern California (continued)

In August 1928 Hale wrote that he was pleased with the beginning of the planting and wanted to complete the design. He also found her bill absurdly small and wrote: ―It is a great privi- lege to be the possessor of your first California garden, and I am proud to enjoy it.‖ Writing to Hale regarding the replacement of one of the sycamores, which had died, Farrand returned the compliment: ―With many thanks to you for hav- ing been willing to give me my first trial at a piece of California planting.‖13 In his retirement, Hale used the building to carry out research and experiments. Here he worked on and refined an important instrument for solar observation, the spectrohelioscope, which made it possible to observe the hydrogen- rich prominences of the sun. Hale largely financed the building, and on its completion he made a gift of the buildings, grounds, and equip- An Egyptian sun motif decorates the entrance to Hale’s solar laboratory. ment to the Carnegie Institution of Washington, Hale had visited Egypt in 1922, where he was among the first to view which owned and administered Mt. Wilson the treasures as they were removed from King Tutankhamen’s tomb. The bas-relief is by sculptor Lee Lawrie. Photo: Libby Simon. Observatory. In 1985 the Hale Solar Laboratory was sold city Akhenaten founded to glorify his cult of the sun. This to William and Christine Shirley, who built a private resi- reference to Akhenaten celebrates Hale‘s lifelong passion- dence on the grounds. Christine Shirley is credited with ate devotion to research on the sun. nominating the building and grounds as a National Historic Low hedges of rosemary and myrtle were to border Landmark, thereby preserving it from demolition. The paths in the south garden, the auto court, and around the Shirleys sold the property to architects Stefanos Polyzoides building. The rosemary failed to thrive, however, and was and Elizabeth Moule, thus ensuring its long-term upkeep replaced with myrtle. A garage was planned at one end of and continued preservation. the auto court, and Farrand suggested the de- sign: ―A building wide enough for three cars, with three arches on the south side, a flat roof and chamfered corners, the walls in color and texture to match the Laboratory building.‖ While there have been many changes to the landscape, most notably the loss of the south garden to subdivision, much of Farrand‘s de- sign can still be discerned. The myrtle hedge has flourished. Native oaks have grown to gi- gantic proportions. Remaining from the original design are a few of the orange trees around the courtyard, Arbutus unedo next to the building wall on the west, a pair of loquats flanking the entry to the observatory, and a pair of syca- mores at either side of the terrace in front of the entry. Several pomegranate trees lining the driveway near the street may also be Farrand‘s inspiration, since some of the orange trees failed to thrive. Fountain with basin mounted on a curved wall marks the end of the Huntington Director’s House garden looking south from the terrace. Photo: Libby Simon.

______

4 Eden: Journal of the California Garden & Landscape History Society Vol. 14 No. 2 • Spring 2011 Beatrix Farrand in Southern California (continued)

Huntington Director’s House back garden, looking toward Farrand’s studio, which was connected to the main house on right by a pergola. Twin oak trees shade the terrace centered on the bay window, and olive trees mark the corners of the lawn. Photo: Barbara Marinacci.

The Director’s House at the Huntington Library, its new site facing Orlando Road, the south-facing entry 1930 was transformed into a large polygonal bay window look- When the Farrands arrived at the Huntington, there was ing onto the garden, and a new entry to the original cen- no accommodation for them on the grounds. For three tral hall/living room was created on the north side of the years they lived off-campus, on South Orange Grove building, facing the entrance drive from Orlando Road. Avenue―famous as Pasadena‘s ―Millionaires‘ Row.‖ Additions were made to accommodate a kitchen, and Their future house was a Huntington guest cottage, built there were other interior alterations. A separate studio for near the Library building on the site of the present staff Beatrix was built perpendicular to the house on the west parking lot. Designed by Myron Hunt, the cottage con- and linked to the house by an arbor, forming an enclosure sisted of several bedrooms intended to accommodate in- for the main garden at the rear. A planting plan survives dividual visitors, making it unsuitable for the director‘s for the secluded flower garden west of the studio; a swim- occupancy.14 ming pool has since been added west of the studio in the In 1930 the cottage was moved to a knoll overlook- flower garden area. ing Orlando Road on the north edge of the campus, where The layout of the main garden is on a simple axial it would undergo a major transformation. Hunt‘s plans for plan. A terrace along the south side of the house over- the remodeled house retained the original Colonial Re- looks the lawn, and the vista to the south terminates in a vival design and its original orientation―a series of fountain and pool in front of a wall with concrete cap. rooms lined up on an east-west axis, with the main en- This feature is similar to the fountain and curved wall trance in the center, facing south. To adapt the house to shown on the drawing for the Hale garden. On the east

(Continued on page 6.) ______

Eden: Journal of the California Garden & Landscape History Society · Vol. 14 No.. 2 • Spring 2011 5 Beatrix Farrand in Southern California (continued)

Farrand created an allée of native oaks leading into the rest anchoring two corners of Goodhue‘s central Spanish Ren- of the Huntington grounds; this path gave Max a pleasantly aissance courtyard design. shaded walk to his office in the main library building. Far- Farrand used the L-shaped plan of Dabney to create an rand made use of the native oaks on the property and enclosed courtyard, walled to shield the space from the added mature olive trees, which were easily transplanted street and from the rest of the campus. A series of large and furnished handsome accents at key points. Pavers are French doors along the east-west wing of the main hall can concrete flagstones similar to those used in the Hale gar- be opened into this quiet space, protected from the general den―a type of paving that Farrand favored, at least in her circulation patterns on campus. The continued use of this Southern California work. popular courtyard for small social events and as a recep- tion area for concerts and other performances in the build- California Institute of Technology (1928−1938) ing attests to the wisdom of this concept. Farrand‘s work at Caltech began shortly after her arrival in Farrand‘s plan gave the rectangular space form and Southern California.15 Working on a volunteer basis, she dealt with the slope of the land by creating an almost created the courtyard for the new humanities building, square courtyard at grade with the main hall and centered Dabney Hall, built in 1927 to designs by Goodhue Associ- on a fountain located on the west wall of the courtyard. ates, the successor firm following Bertram Goodhue‘s This main courtyard is bounded by a low retaining wall untimely death in 1924. Goodhue, hired at the behest of ornamented with graceful inset concrete benches inset at Hale, had conceived the campus plan that formed either end. Two steps in the center of the wall lead up to a the early core of academic buildings linked by arcaded smaller space above at the level of the street (since closed walkways leading east from Wilson Avenue. Dabney Hall and now part of the campus). A central north-south walk- was to be located on the north edge of the campus adjacent way (now removed) executed in Farrand‘s favorite dark to San Pasqual Street. The new building was envisioned gray art stone flagstones bisected the main space, which as a companion to Gates Hall, the first building on the was also outlined by flagstone paths. Rectangular panels of campus, with which it formed a quadrangle, both buildings lawn and mature olive trees provided a restful color

This Caltech campus plan is by Bertram Goodhue, c. 1915. Wilson Avenue is in the foreground. The campus is bounded by San Pasqual Street on the left and California Street on the right. The grand central domed building and the reflecting pools were never realized, but the general axial layout was followed in the development of the campus until after World War II. Courtesy Caltech Archives.

______

6 Eden: Journal of the California Garden & Landscape History Society Vol. 14 No. 2 • Spring 2011 Beatrix Farrand in Southern California (continued)

questing compensation for her work and the authority to have her designs executed. In July Munro replied that the question would need to go before the Executive Council. Finally in September Millikan replied, thanking her for her services and reporting that the Executive Council did not feel it wise ―to enter into any formal arrangement on a definitely professional basis.‖ Continuing on, he wrote: ―We hope to have the privilege of seeking your counsel and suggestions in a professional capacity on landscaping problems as they may arise at any future time. In this con- nection I should mention that the garden south of the Arms Lab will be carried out in accordance with the plan which you have already outlined and which Mrs. Robinson has approved.‖17 Farrand did not answer until almost a month later, when she replied to Millikan that it was necessary for the architect and landscape designer to collaborate for the Arms project; levels, walls, gates, and the width of walks needed to be discussed and decided collaboratively.18 An- other month went by before Farrand wrote again. She agreed to do the work around Arms―as a ―tribute of affec- tion to Mr. and Mrs. Henry Robinson, and I will do my best to please Mrs. Robinson and the Officers of the

Dabney Courtyard showing olive trees, grass panels, and flagstone paths. This photo was taken before recent alterations to the garden. Photo © Douglas Hill. scheme in shades of green and gray, enlivened by climbing Cherokee roses on the courtyard walls. Farrand‘s other significant contribution to the campus was her plan for a garden south of Arms Geological Sci- ences Laboratory. Her one-level plan was not acceptable to the architects, whose own plan proposed two levels. How- ever, it was finally implemented in 1938 because Mrs. Henry Robinson (née Laurabelle Arms), donor of the building and its neighbor, Robinson Hall, preferred Far- rand‘s plan. Unfortunately, there is no record of the plan itself, and the garden has recently been demolished to make way for a new design now under construction. Having planned significant portions of the Princeton, Yale, and University of Chicago campuses, Farrand had definite ideas about how the Caltech campus plan could be improved, and she pressed for the adoption of a campus master plan. In the mid-1930s she prepared some prelimi- nary recommendations for the western portion of the cam- pus.16 No action was taken on her recommendations, per- haps because at the time Caltech was strapped for funds, having lost almost its entire endowment in the 1929 crash. By 1938 Farrand had tired of her volunteer status at The entrance to Dabney Hall, flanked by towering Eucalypti Caltech. In March and again in July, she wrote to W.B. citriodora trees, features Mayan motifs that reappear Munro, chair of Humanities, and President Millikan, re- throughout the building. Photo: Libby Simon. ______(Continued on page 8.)

Eden: Journal of the California Garden & Landscape History Society · Vol. 14 No.. 2 • Spring 2011 7 Beatrix Farrand in Southern California (continued)

Institute as my professional gift to them and the Thorne was a member of the Commercial Club, a group of institution. For other work ...[I suggest you] make arrange- civic-minded businessmen who promoted and helped bring ments with some professional advisor in outdoor work.‖19 about Daniel Burnham‘s famous 1909 Plan of Chicago. As The reluctance of the Caltech men to pay Farrand the a supporter of the Chicago Plan and of Burnham‘s work, money and the respect she was due may well have been Thorne would have known of Farrand‘s work at the Uni- due to financial considerations, but their innate prejudices versity of Chicago, and more importantly, would have may have been the deciding factor. During the Depression mixed socially with fellow Chicagoan George Ellery Hale. (and even later, into the 1960s), married women were rou- In a letter from the end of 1936 to Beatrix Farrand tinely denied employment, since they had husbands to sup- offering her the job, Oxy president Dr. Remsen E. Bird port them. Farrand‘s chief rivals in the profession in South- wrote that Thorne had stipulated that he wanted ―Mrs. Max ern California were single women―Katherine Bashford, Farrand or some one as experienced‖ to do the landscape and the firm of Florence Yoch & Lucile Council, who pre- design.20 Thorne was donating a large sum of money to sumably needed the work in order to survive. build an auditorium for the college in honor of his late By the time Farrand wrote this letter, she was fully wife, Belle Wilber Thorne, and the chosen location for the engaged in a much more rewarding project: working on the new building provided the opportunity to rethink the cam- redesign of the campus at Occidental College, in the Eagle pus layout. Rock district of Los Angeles. Bird‘s offer of the project to Farrand marked the be- Occidental College, 1936−1941 ginning of a five-year involvement with the campus, a pro- Beatrix Farrand‘s most extensive project in the Los Ange- ject that Farrand later wrote ―lies very close to my heart.‖ les area was a major redesign of the campus at Occidental Working with architect Myron Hunt and his then partner, College. It was undertaken in the last years of the Depres- H.C. Chambers, Farrand established a ―happy collabora- sion at the instigation of Charles H. Thorne, a college trus- tion not only with Mr. Chambers, but the whole College 21 tee. Like George Ellery Hale, Thorne was a Chica- organization.‖ Unlike her experience at Caltech, where goan―and like Hale, he had a strong interest in architec- she worked without compensation and without much re- ture, city planning, and design. The retired chairman of spect, her work at Oxy was compensated, her suggestions Montgomery Ward, which had been founded by his father, and comments followed, and her designs carried out as she wished.

Myron Hunt’s plan for Occidental College, 1913. Courtesy Special Collections, Occidental College Library. ______

8 Eden: Journal of the California Garden & Landscape History Society Vol. 14 No. 2 • Spring 2011 Beatrix Farrand in Southern California (continued)

also specified that asphalt paving for the service roads be colored to match the buff shade of the build- ings by rolling in yellowish gravel. Also, she wanted the curbs to be cast stone instead of ordinary con- crete. She was insistent that the ar- chitects study the level of the new building very carefully in order to successfully ―marry‖ it to the slope on which it was being built. In a letter to Chambers, she discussed the positioning of steps, walls, and ramps around the building in great detail.23 Aware of the deluges that the California rainy season can bring, she decided against an elaborate Farrand designed the main quadrangle, laid out with decomposed granite walks and planted with California native oaks. Oaks that failed to survive have been replaced over the years with equally drainage system, noting that ―no grand specimens, maintaining an enormous canopy over the entire Quad. drainage system that has ever been Photo by Marc Campos, courtesy Occidental College. evolved can carry a heavy California storm.‖24 The water would just have The original campus plan by Myron Hunt and Elmer to flow down over the terraces. She reasoned that repairing Grey (1913) had oriented the buildings along a long drive- any damage over the years would be far cheaper than in- way running up a steeply sloping hillside. In Thorne‘s vi- stalling a huge and complex drainage system that still sion, the new auditorium would terminate one end of an might prove inadequate. axis lying perpendicular to the slope, with the other end Her requirements for trees for the Quad were exacting. terminating at Clapp Library, a key existing campus build- Rather than plant small trees and then wait 50 years for ing. This plan required constructing four terraces across them to grow, she specified mature California oaks in the slope, enabling the introduction of a traditional campus boxes. On Bell‘s orders, the Los Angeles nurseryman R.W. quadrangle plan. Closing the driveway through the campus Hamsher boxed 35 trees from the wild for her inspection, was a condition for Thorne‘s gift. Other existing buildings and she chose 18 of them: four large multi-trunked speci- were already ranged along the long axis of the proposed mens for the two ends of the Quad and four large single- quadrangle: the Freeman Student Union, Swan Hall stemmed trees for the center. These trees alone, at $4,300, (faculty offices), and classroom buildings (Fowler and cost over double the expected budget for the Quad tree Johnson). plantings. The total budget for landscape work for the en- The chairman of Oxy‘s Grounds Committee was tire project, including the work around the new Thorne Alphonzo Bell, an alumnus of the college and a wealthy oil Hall, was initially set at $20,000, but by August 1937 it and real estate developer, most noted for his development had been increased to $36,000, with Bell agreeing to con- of Bel-Air Estates in west Los Angeles. Charles Thorne tribute $30,000. McLain, who was deeply committed to and Archibald Young also served on the Grounds Commit- supporting Farrand‘s ambitious plans for the campus, tee.22 Bell, Thorne and Fred F. McLain, the college‘s broke the news to Bell about the budget overrun for the comptroller, held the purse strings for the project, with oaks in the Quad in a letter announcing how enthusiastic Bell being the primary source of funds for the landscaping. both staff and students were over the huge trees,25 and Bell (The quadrangle was named Bell Quadrangle in his honor.) came through with the funds. In the end, the total Quad Farrand‘s role in the design for the entire project was planting budget grew to about $8,000. complex. She determined the designs and pale yellow Determined to create a total design concept, Farrand color for the concrete of the terrace walls and steps; speci- also designed furniture for the Quad: concrete bench seats fied that the flagged art stone paving to be both creamy and tables for each end, and teak benches to be ranged and rough, like travertine; and directed that the walks in along the walks. The handsome concrete benches were an the central Quad section be of decomposed granite. She extra expense borne by Alphonzo Bell, and their massive ______(Continued on page 10.)

Eden: Journal of the California Garden & Landscape History Society · Vol. 14 No.. 2 • Spring 2011 9 Beatrix Farrand in Southern California (continued) curved backs were inscribed with the name of their donor. They still stand facing each other across the upper level of the Quad. The teak furniture was ordered from a catalogue of an English firm. Four benches (Britannia model, made to Far- rand‘s design),26 eight Britannia chairs, and four stools (Harrow model) were shipped to Oxy with the information that they had been made from the wood of the Union Cas- tle liner ―Armadale Castle.‖ The passenger liner‘s war ser- vice had begun in August 1914, when it was converted into an armed merchant cruiser. It had also carried troops in African waters and in the Atlantic. The Burmese teak used to build the ship had come from 150-year-old trees, felled in the forest and then floated down to seaports, taking from Farrand designed the Britannia bench for Hughes Bolckow five to 20 years to reach the coast. The ship itself had been Shipbreaking, Ltd., an English firm that manufactured garden furniture made from teakwood salvaged from British battleships. 25 years old――therefore the product is of considerable Several of these benches were purchased for the Quad in the 1930s. age,‖ i.e., nearly 200 years old. In an unusual tribute to the Courtesy Special Collections, Occidental College Library. role of the Armadale Castle, sacrificed for the teak garden building (and got them). At her suggestion, the flight of furniture at Occidental College, a street on the campus is steps up to the forecourt from the Quad was broken into named Armadale Avenue. two flights, with a landing, creating a more comfortable In addition to the Quad, Farrand was also responsible approach to the building. She also suggested a gentler tran- for the landscaping around Thorne Hall, which was com- sition from the forecourt to the road on the west and a re- pleted in 1938. The building, a simple form of Italian Ren- duction in the size of the abutments flanking the main steps aissance, with pale stucco walls on reinforced concrete and to the building entrance (they were narrowed from the a hipped red tile roof, continued the overall California original seven-foot width to four feet).28 Mediterranean theme of existing campus architecture. On For Thorne Hall, Farrand proposed a grey-toned plant- examining the plans, Farrand termed it ―quiet and digni- ing scheme. In the flagstone-paved forecourt, she placed fied,‖ and the main façade ―excellent.‖27 She was most four 50-year old olive trees to shade the people gathering concerned, however, with how the building fit into the at matinee intermissions. She obtained large agaves from existing context and the slope of the land. She questioned William Hertrich at the Huntington Library for planting on the sloping top of the retaining wall on the east, suggesting the east side of Thorne, and white wisteria was planted that it should be stepped (it was). She asked for larger atop a wall on the north side (rear) of Thorne. Additional planting trenches for the trees in the forecourt of the plantings included olive trees on the hillside west and north of Thorne, and lavender and rosemary close to Thorne walks and entrances, where passersby might brush up against them, releasing a lovely scent. Farrand went on to design the walks and courtyard of the Music Building. Walks were to be of brick set in sand, and iris was to be planted in gravel around the fountain in the court. She planted white oleanders along the front of the building and boxwood to edge the walks in the music school‘s court. Although the courtyard plantings and pav- ing have been altered, the space with its fountain is still memorable. McLain wrote her that the Thorne Hall olive trees did ―wonders in tying in the existing Music Building lawn with the Thorne Hall court.‖29 Comptroller Fred McLain and Beatrix Farrand became close friends during her work at Oxy. He was her great A Farrand-designed pair of massive matching benches with gently curving concave backs face each other across the Quad. Originally admirer, writing in 1940: ―Will you pardon me if I get a bit intended to be carved from stone, they were made from less expensive enthusiastic over your professional skill with plants, and cast stone. Photo by Marc Campos, courtesy Occidental College. your outstanding ability to deal with human beings and get

______

10 Eden: Journal of the California Garden & Landscape History Society Vol. 14 No. 2 • Spring 2011 Beatrix Farrand in Southern California (continued)

the slope in front of the Music Building interlaced with rock- lined paths and occasional logs and stumps for sitting is an ex- ample of this idea. Throughout 1938 and 1939, Farrand was continuing a busy planting program on the campus. Her letters are full of plant lists for various campus locations. Oaks and olives were planted in large quantities on the hillsides. She also proposed training or- anges, camellias, and evergreen clematis on campus walls. She began to recommend native Farrand designed the setting for Thorne Hall, including the forecourt with its flagstone paving plants―mimulus, ceanothus, and four olive trees, as well as the gentle approach with two flights of steps leading up to the building. and others――to give the campus Photo by Marc Campos, courtesy Occidental College. real distinction and beauty.‖33 She invited Mr. Ross, the head things done?‖30 He almost never failed to champion her of the Oxy landscape team, to take cuttings and seeds from cause, especially when her requirements added extra ex- the Director‘s House at the Huntington. pense (as with the oaks for the Quad), or when there was The campus had been heavily planted with eucalyptus pressure to proceed with work that she had not had time to trees over the years, and in the very beginning of her work review; he appreciated her standards of excellence, her on the quadrangle project, Farrand had designed the simple attention to nuances, and her commitment to the beautifi- low walls around the large ones in front of Johnson and cation of the campus. The McLains and the Farrands also Fowler Halls. However, by 1940 she advocated raising and enjoyed each other‘s company; after the McLains‘ trip to planting native oaks instead of eucalyptus on all the Mexico in December 1939, the two couples gathered for college slopes, as they would ―give dignity to the hillsides an evening to view Fred McLain‘s slides of Mexico.31 and charm to any buildings set on them.‖34 They might Occidental Campus Planning Farrand‘s initial work at Occidental College was part of the implementation of a 1935 plan by Hunt and Chambers. In 1938 Farrand be- came a key member of the committee of ar- chitects, college trustees, and officials that began work on an overall campus plan. Here Farrand was clearly in her element, having designed quadrangles and building sites for Princeton, Yale, and the University of Chi- cago. The committee developed planned sites for new men‘s and women‘s dormitories, as well as locations of roads and footpaths throughout the campus. Two new dorms, Haines and Wylie, were completed in 1940, and the locations of additional ones were specified. Recognizing how people create their own paths from building to building, Farrand envisioned ―footpaths leading from the buildings [as] short cuts or ‗sneaks‘ Farrand designed the fountain area within the courtyard of the Music Building. through the planting.‖32 A grove of trees on Photo: Barbara Marinacci. ______(Continued on page 12.)

Eden: Journal of the California Garden & Landscape History Society · Vol. 14 No.. 2 • Spring 2011 11 Beatrix Farrand in Southern California (concluded) have to be sacrificed for future buildings. but in the meantime it was a cost-effective way to beau- tify the college property. This work was very satisfying to her, and she was generous in sharing the credit. She wrote the following to Alphonzo Bell: ―Yesterday when Mr. Chambers and I were working on the campus together, he said he thought it one of the loveliest of the small colleges and very largely owing to the beauty of the simple lines in the central quadrangle, for which you are responsible…. With ever so many thanks for the happy work at Oc- cidental which is entirely due to your instigation.‖35 Farrand’s last job at Oxy was a campus plan that included new dormitories. She chose the site for Haines Hall to be dramatically placed on the slope above the Quad. Small orange groves were Late in 1939 Alphonzo Bell enclosed by myrtle hedges in front, to outline the space in the foreground. Haines is famous decided to give to the college 23 as the dorm where President Barack Obama lived when he was a student at Oxy. Photo by Marc Campos, courtesy Occidental College. acres of land adjacent to the cam- pus. Most of it was on the opposite side of College Hill, he makes a great effort, I question the effect on the running down to the bottom of the slope along Eagle participants.‖39 Beatrix described the move from California Rock‘s Yosemite Avenue. Bell had bought the land to save as a ―terrible wrench…. Although this house has only been it from development. Farrand was asked to look over the our official home and therefore not as closely rooted in our property to determine what might be used for college pur- hearts as Reef Point, it is rather a tug at the heartstrings to poses, what could be set aside for residential use for fac- leave its pleasant surroundings and the implication of all ulty or staff, and what could be developed for alumni, fac- the friendly hours we have enjoyed it.‖40 ulty, and others wishing to join the college community.36 Occidental College‘s president, Remsen Bird. wrote to All of this promised a continuing association for Beatrix thank the Farrands for many things, including ―the making Farrand with Occidental College. Yet, a few months later, of this campus beautiful beyond compare.‖41 Perhaps the Fred McLain wrote to her at Reef Point: ―What is all this finest tribute, however, came from Clara Burdette, civic war business going to do to our major planning? We were and national leader in women‘s causes and grande dame of all set for a big year with applications thirty-five per cent Pasadena society: ―Your presence has always given me an ahead of last year. What will transpire now no one knows. inward rejoicing that you were a living example to this It is reasonable to assume, however, that development community of two people who could each exercise a vital work has been given a body blow, alas.‖37 interest of his own and yet remain in unity—the high pur- Other things were changing, too. Max Farrand had pose of living.‖42 tired of his administrative duties at the Huntington. More- Max and Beatrix retired to their beloved Reef Point in over, he wanted to complete his long-planned edition of Maine. Still, they returned to California every winter, stay- Benjamin Franklin‘s autobiography. In addition, his health ing at the Valley Club in Montecito. Beatrix continued to was not good. Beatrix expressed the tenor of the times in a winter in Montecito after Max‘s death in 1945, and she letter to a friend: ―There seems somehow a mockery these worked with Huntington staff to help complete Max‘s days in gardening . . . so we plod along, Max in the hu- work on the Franklin autobiography, which was finally manities, I in my gardens, Hubble in his stars….‖38 published in 1949. Forced to sell Reef Point in 1955, The announcement of Max‘s retirement from the Beatrix purchased a small property, Garland Farm, not far Huntington in March 1941 was met with general dismay from Reef Point, where she designed a new garden and by their many friends in Southern California. A farewell lived until her death in 1959. Garland Farm is now pre- dinner for Max was planned, despite his protestations that served and operated by the Beatrix Farrand Society as a it would be a ―terrific ordeal for the victim and unless landscape educational center.

______

12 Eden: Journal of the California Garden & Landscape History Society Vol. 14 No. 2 • Spring 2011 Beatrix Farrand in Southern California (concluded)

Endnotes 1. Information on Farrand‘s early life and career and her later years is from Judith B. Tankard, Beatrix Farrand: Private Gardens, Public Landscapes, New York: Monacelli, 2009, 9-39. 2. Tankard, 64. 3. Letter, James R. Angell, Yale President, to Max Farrand (MF). Feb 25, 1927. Box 1, Max Farrand Papers, Huntington Library Archives 4. Caltech President Robert Andrews Millikan (RAM) proffered the invitation to come for a semester, a quarter, a few weeks, perhaps to stay, writing: ―We can furnish you golf, the Americana of the Huntington, or the opportunity to become an actor on the Community stage [Pasadena Playhouse], at your pleasure.‖ July 23, 1925. Max Farrand Papers, Huntington Library Archives. 5. In an undated letter to Beatrix Farrand (BF), Hale‘s wife Evelina wrote: ―I can‘t tell you how my husband rejoices in your husband‘s acceptance of the Huntington Library. He feels Mr. Farrand is the one man he was looking for. Mr Huntington is also immensely pleased. Everybody is.‖ Box 10, Max Farrand Papers, Huntington Library Archives. 6. Letter, George Ellery Hale (GEH) to MF, Mar 12, 1926. Box 10, Max Farrand Papers, Huntington Library Archives. Another letter sug- gested Beatrix might be suitable to act as curator of the art collection. 7. Letter, MF to RAM, May 8, 1929. Millikan Papers, Caltech Archives. 8. Early in his tenure Max Farrand turned to Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. for advice on how the grounds should be treated. Olmsted‘s reply suggested that a series of gardens be installed for the general education of the public, displaying various approaches to garden design suitable to the climate and culture of Southern California. Letter, FLO, Jr. to MF, Nov 26, 1928. Archives, Botanical Division, Hunting- ton Library. 9. BF to GEH, Mar 8, 1928. Hale Papers, Caltech Archives. 10. Letters between BF and GEH, 1927-1934. Hale Papers, Caltech Archives. 11. Letter, Evelina Hale to BF, undated. Box 10, Max Farrand Papers, Huntington Library Archives. 12. Farrand‘s design and planting specifications are outlined in an ―Itemized Cost of Work‖ accompanying a letter to Hale, March 8, 1928. Hale Papers, Caltech Archives. 13. The author thanks Huntington Library archivist Jennifer Goldman for sharing before and after plans of the house, as well as aerial photo- graphs showing its two locations on the Huntington grounds. 14. Letter, BF to GEH, Jan 27, 1930. Hale Papers, Caltech Archives. 15. My information on Caltech‘s architecture and landscape plans is drawn from Romy Wyllie‘s groundbreaking book, Caltech’s Architec- tural Heritage: From Spanish Tile to Modern Stone. Los Angeles: Balcony Press, 2000, and from conversations with the author. 16. See memos W.B. Munro (WBM) to RAM, June 26, 1934 and Feb 1, 1935. Millikan Papers, Caltech Archives. 17. Letter, RAM to BF, September 18, 1938. Millikan Papers, Caltech Archives. 18. Letter, BF to RAM, Oct 17, 1938. Millikan Papers, Caltech Archives. 19. Letter, BF to RAM, Nov 16, 1938. Millikan Papers, Caltech Archives. 20. Letter, Remsen D. Bird (RDB) to BF, Nov 11, 1936. Fred F. McClain files, Special Collections, Occidental College Library. Unless otherwise noted all Occidental College sources cited are found in two file folders kept by Comptroller Fred McClain and now in Special Collections, Occidental College Library. 21. Letter, BF to Fred F. McLain (FFM), College Comptroller, June 14, 1938. 22. Young‘s home in Pasadena by Santa Barbara architect George Washington Smith had one of the most outstanding California gardens of the 1920s, designed by Pasadena landscape architect A.E. Hanson. 23. Letter, BF to H.C Chambers (HCC), October 28, 1937. 24. Notes by BF, April 5, 1937. 25. Letter, FFM to Alphonzo Bell (AB), October 9, 1937. 26. Letter, BF to FFM, Dec 3, 1937: ―The Britannia Seat is one which they have made from a design of mine . . .‖ Farrand pointed out that the low sloping back was unusual and made the seats more comfortable. 27. Letter, BF to HCC, Oct 28, 1937. 28. Change order, HCC to Hollingsworth, general contractor, Dec 6, 1937. 29. Letter, FFM to BF, May 2, 1938. 30. Letter, FFM to BF, January 4, 1940. 31. Letter, BF to FFM, April 3, 1940. 32. Letter to Hunt and Chambers, cc McLain, August 31, 1939. 33. BF notes, Feb 1, 1940. 34. Ibid. 35. Letter, BF to AB, April 3, 1940. 36. Letter, FFM to BF, Oct 10, 1939. 37. Letter, FFM to BF, June 11, 1940. 38. Letter, BF to Viscountess Byng of Vimy, April 4, 1941. Max Farrand Papers, Huntington Library Archives. Hubble is Edwin Hubble, friend of the Farrands and the astronomer who discovered galaxies outside our solar system at Mt. Wilson Observatory and established Hubble‘s constant, demonstrating that the universe is expanding. 39. Letter, MF to Ed Lyman, Mar 21, 1941. Max Farrand Papers, Huntington Library Archives. 40. Letter, BF to Mrs. Robert Gordon Sproul, wife of the President of UC Berkeley, Mar 31, 1941. Max Farrand Papers, Huntington Library Archives. 41. Letter, RB to MF, Mar 18, 1941. Max Farrand Papers, Huntington Library Archives. 42. Letter, Clara Burdette to MF and BF, Mar 7, 1941. Max Farrand Papers, Huntington Library Archives. Ann Scheid, with degrees from Vassar, U. of Chicago, and Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, gravitated into historic preservation after arriving in California in the 1970s. She worked for the City of Pasadena as a preservation planner and for the State of California as an architectural historian. She has written on Pasadena history, with a special interest in landscape design and City Beautiful plans in Southern California. She has served on the boards of the Pasadena Historical Society and the Society of Architectural Historians, Southern California Chapter. She practices semi-retirement as curator of the Greene and Greene Archives at the Huntington Library. ______

Eden: Journal of the California Garden & Landscape History Society · Vol. 14 No.. 2 • Spring 2011 13 The Beatrix Farrand Tour & Talk November 13‒14, 2010

n mid-November of last year came the last of the five I successful Tours & Talks—initiated and presided over by our now-president Judy Horton. Several other CGLHS members helped by setting up individual tours. (The Sum- mer 2010 and Winter 2011 issues provided overviews of the first four T&Ts.) This two-day event featured the work in the Pasadena area of famed landscape architect Beatrix Jones Farrand during the late 1920s to the early 1940s, while her husband, Max Farrand, served as the first direc- tor of the Huntington Library. It was beautifully orchestrated by CGLHS member Ann Scheid (Membership Secretary at the time, and now serving as Member-at-Large on the Board of Directors). She arranged for Saturday access by the large group of attendees—45 in all—at the venues: the grounds of the Huntington Director‘s house, the Hale Solar Laboratory premises, Caltech (for a walking tour of the campus, in small groups led by campus historian Romy Wyllie and volunteers), and Occidental College. We were fortunate to be joined on the daylong tour by Judith Tankard, author of the recently published Beatrix Farrand: Private Gardens, Public Landscapes. She had Tour attendees stand in the Hale Solar Lab’s courtyard: been invited by the Huntington Library to give a talk on Judith Tankard (back to camera), Gary Striker, Ann Scheid, Sunday, so everyone on our tour could attend it as well. Kelly Comras, John Blocker (behind Kelly), Thea Gurns, Libby Simon. Gary Lyons (foreground), Anne Watson, unidentified, Over 120 people were in the audience. (See also p. 26.) Marilyn and George Brumder. Ann Scheid‘s article featured in this issue details Farrand‘s contributions to each of the four sites we visited, so we‘ll just show here several snapshots taken as the group viewed remnants of Beatrix Farrand‘s Pasadena-area landscape and garden creations.

A view through a grove of oaks at Oxy—one of Beatrix Farrand’s “sneaks,” or secret paths between dorms. CGLHS tour members are in the background. All photos by Barbara Marinacci. A venerable oak tree outside the Huntington Library Director’s House.

______

14 Eden: Journal of the California Garden & Landscape History Society Vol. 14 No. 2 • Spring 2011 Beatrix Farrand in Santa Barbara, 1925‒1959 Susan Chamberlin

uring Beatrix Farrand‘s residence in Southern Cali- continued to live in Montecito every winter, until just be- D fornia, she worked in Santa Barbara, where she and fore her death in 1959.1 her husband, Max, later shared a winter home. Over the Casa Dorinda, the Bliss Estate (1925, 1936‒1946) course of many years she consulted on the Casa Dorinda Built during the ―Gilded Age‖ before the Great Depres- estate and the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden. While she sion, the Casa Dorinda (at 300 Hot Springs Road) was one was not the lead designer for either project, and her contri- of Montecito‘s largest and most opulent early estates. It butions to Casa Dorinda, though not well documented, was also one of the first grand California country houses seem minimal, her impact on the Botanic Garden was sig- in the newly fashionable Spanish Colonial Revival archi- nificant. tectural style. The main house was designed by architect Farrand‘s connection to Santa Barbara was the Bliss Carleton Monroe Winslow, Sr., but the estate was not family—Anna Dorinda Blaksley Barnes Bliss (Mrs. ―landscaped‖ by Farrand.2 Letters between Anna Bliss‘s William H. Bliss), an exceedingly wealthy patron of the attorney-agent, Spencer Thorpe, and Santa Barbara land- arts from New York City by way of the Midwest, and her scape gardener-architect, Peter Riedel, leave no doubt that daughter, Mildred Barnes Bliss, or Mrs. Robert W. Bliss. Riedel was responsible for the property‘s landscape design (Mildred was married to her stepbrother, which meant her and construction when it was laid out in 1918.3 Alas, the last name was the same as her mother‘s.) As World War I plan and planting lists for Casa Dorinda, referenced in the broke out in Europe, people who were used to wintering in letters, have not turned up at this writing. Nor have any the south of France began looking other landscape plans. for other warm climates by the It took Anna Bliss quite seashore. Montecito, an unincor- some time to settle on Riedel. porated area south of the city of She initially wanted Winslow to Santa Barbara, began to boom. supervise the grounds and gar- Anna Bliss commissioned Casa dens, but didn‘t like his formal Dorinda as her winter home in approach.4 She negotiated with Montecito in 1916, and 10 years John McLaren (superintendent of later she endowed the Blaksley Golden Gate Park) and his son, Botanic Garden (renamed the Donald, of the MacRorie- Santa Barbara Botanic Garden in McLaren Company in San Fran- 1939). Meanwhile, Mildred and cisco about a landscape design, Robert Bliss began developing the then decided to have San Fran- gardens at their Dumbarton Oaks cisco artist Bruce Porter design estate in Washington DC, with the the garden, with McLaren carry- help of Ferrand in 1922. ing out the planting selection and After Anna Bliss‘s death in construction.5 Porter, a key fig- 1935, Mildred inherited both Casa ure in the Bay Area Arts and Dorinda and her mother‘s role as Crafts movement and the garden the Botanic Garden‘s patron. By designer for Filoli and William this time Farrand was living in Crocker‘s New Place, completed San Marino, where Max was Di- Terrace leading to the "Great Lawn" at Casa Dorinda. The a landscape plan and did draw- rector of the Huntington Library, major elements of the estate’s garden, designed by Peter Riedel ings for a belvedere, basin, and in association with the architect, were already in place when and Mildred depended upon her to Beatrix Farrand first consulted in 1925. Photo from arch, but Anna Bliss was in represent the Bliss interests in Architectural Forum, January 1921). ―quite a state of uncertainty‖ Santa Barbara and to make land- about the improvement of her scape design suggestions. Thanks to Mildred Bliss, the grounds, so Porter was paid and Riedel was engaged.6 Farrands acquired their winter home at a Montecito coun- The 80-room house was already sited by Winslow in try club after Max retired from the Huntington in 1941. A 48 acres of ―primeval‖ coast live oaks (Quercus agrifolia). membership was arranged for Max, and Cottage #2 at the The entry road passed through iron gates and over a stone Valley Club was theirs. Max died in 1945, but Beatrix (Continued on page 16.) ______

Eden: Journal of the California Garden & Landscape History Society · Vol. 14 No.. 2 • Spring 2011 15 Beatrix Farrand in Santa Barbara (continued) bridge across Montecito Creek, then turned to reveal a A 1939 letter includes comments about the house‘s gutters, glimpse of the house.7 Also included on the property but suggests roof repairs, and concludes, ―The dracaena given screened by the oaks was a guest house, as well as separate by Mrs. Kennerly to Casa Dorinda has been moved to a cottages for married servants and other outbuildings. The position chosen for it against the west side of the service main casa has a viewing tower and is U-shaped, enclosing wing and looks grand!!! As a result one does not miss the an arcaded courtyard on the rear. This arcade opened to little oak which was taken out close to the front door. It is a terraces overlooking the ―great lawn‖ where legendary vast improvement.‖14 parties were held. One of the most celebrated moments for During World War II, Mildred and Robert Bliss made the Casa Dorinda came in 1919, when King Albert of Bel- plans to convey Casa Dorinda to the US Navy for recrea- gium, a guest there with his family, planted a giant tional use, and Farrand was called upon to help with the sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) on the edge of the transition. She arranged for her draftsman from Pasadena lawn fronting the mountain view.9 According to some esti- to work with the Casa Dorinda contractors to get it ready, mates, 40 acres were cultivated. Riedel created various contacted the estate‘s superintendent about tree protection special gardens and two lawn areas; constructed walls, a fences, and provided a report to the Commanding Officer tennis court, and an arbor; laid paths, relocated lemon and about the place.15 She asked her friend Maunsell Van Rens- orange trees from an orchard, and planted an extensive ivy selaer (the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden‘s 3rd director) to groundcover among the oaks. An aerial photo shows a check on the garden‘s most valuable trees: a rare Guada- huge circular formal garden south of the house and lupe cypress (Cupressus guadalupensis, known as the screened from it by oaks. Because it is undated in sources ―Casa Dorinda Cypress‖) and the ―King Albert Se- where it is reprinted, it impossible to tell if the design is quoia.‖ (He reported that both were both in excellent con- Riedel‘s (most likely) or Farrand‘s.8 dition and protectively fenced.)16 The transition dragged on for some time. The Navy finally took possession in 1946 but never developed the property. Casa Dorinda was later a school, and in 1975 opened as a retirement residence. Today, crowded with apartments and parking areas, the grounds have virtually nothing left of the original landscape design except lawns off the front and rear of the main house. Even the entry road and majestic iron gates were recently relocated farther north of the intersection of Hot Springs and Olive Mill Roads, so guests no longer experience the original entry sequence. The Guadalupe Cypress was lost around 1950 during a winter storm, and after reaching a height of 100 feet, the King Albert Sequoia ―died of neglect‖ in the 1970s.17 The King Albert Sequoia. From Glimpses of Santa Barbara and Montecito Gardens, by Ervanna Bowen Bissell, 1926. Santa Barbara Botanic Garden (1938‒1950) Eastern writers on Beatrix Farrand tend to give her credit Farrand did some consulting in 1925, but her archived for the innovative design of the Santa Barbara Botanic Gar- 10 papers reveal nothing about her contributions. After Mil- den at the expense of Santa Barbara landscape architect dred Bliss inherited Casa Dorinda in 1935, she apparently Lockwood de Forest, Jr. and the garden‘s first designer, consulted with Farrand on minor changes to the road and Ervanna Bowen Bissell.18 11 parking. Their correspondence reveals that Bliss relied on Originally endowed in 1926 by Anna Bliss, the Gar- Farrand to represent her at both the Botanic Garden and den is now recognized as ―the progenitor of a type.‖ The Casa Dorinda when Farrand was in Santa Barbara. In 1937 Garden was the first in California devoted to native plants Farrand writes at length in letters: for example, about con- and ―… served to promote a cultural movement‖ toward flicts at the Botanic Garden with Lockwood de Forest, and appropriate and sustainable horticulture.19 It was also she reports on supervising the relocation of two large olive unique, because plants were arranged in a park-like, natural 12 trees to Casa Dorinda. By 1937 Mildred and Robert Bliss setting, not as individual specimens in stiff beds typical of were already trying to ―dispose‖ of the property, so Far- botanical gardens in the past. From the earliest days of its rand‘s main concern was ―keeping its good looks with as founding, the goal was to ―unite the aesthetic, educational, 13 little possible expenditure of energy as well as funds.‖ and scientific.‖20 ______

16 Eden: Journal of the California Garden & Landscape History Society Vol. 14 No. 2 • Spring 2011 Beatrix Farrand in Santa Barbara (continued)

Mrs. Bissell, with a background in botany, had retired and during the following year she began to collaborate to Santa Barbara with her husband, Dr. Elmer Bissell, from with de Forest on landscape ideas. Rochester, New York. They joined the local community of Pages have been devoted to the conflict between the garden enthusiasts and were involved from the beginning young, brilliant de Forest and the older, more traditional at the Blaksley Botanic Garden. Mrs. Bissell ―created the Farrand. Most writers agree that a better design emerged initial design of the garden,‖ based on a concept proposed from this conflict because her tendency toward formal, by Dr. Frederic Clements, a plant ecologist and the Gar- axial elements strengthened some of the spatial relation- den‘s first director: to grow California native plants ships. The siting of the herbarium and Blaksley Library is grouped by communities and climate regimes.21 Dr. Bissell a case in point. Mildred Bliss endowed the library, which was appointed the Director of the Garden in 1928, and was designed by the Santa Barbara architect Lutah Maria Mrs. Bissell was named the Associate Director in 1929. A Riggs. Bliss sent Riggs‘ 1941 preliminary plans to Farrand prolific writer of both botanical and garden articles, Mrs. to critique. Farrand responded in detail and then collabo- Bissell threw herself into the Garden‘s construction and rated with Riggs on the sight lines, so there was an axial wrote that the Garden was conceived as an ―exhibition alignment to the library, its courtyard, and the Blaksley garden‖ with ―attractive plants … artistically arranged ... to Boulder (looking north). Riggs‘ drawing acknowledges show the beauty of native plants and their adaptability for Farrand as ―Consultant.‖24 De Forest, though, was not in use in private gardens,‖ which would ―conserve the state‘s favor of the formality. Probably the most successful de water supply.‖22 This approach—formulated by Dr. Forest-Farrand collaboration was to reshape the meadow Clements, the Bissells, and the Garden Committee—was into an oval framed by trees and planted with California both revolutionary and visionary. poppies (Eschscholzia californica). Eventually planted The Garden is sited in Mission Canyon, which cuts with other wildflowers, notably beach strawberry through the mountains to the north. La Cumbre Peak is the (Fragaria chiloensis), the meadow attracted crowds of 25 terminating view from an open meadow framed by trees. people in the spring. (Continued on page 18.) There are also views of the Pacific Ocean to the south from other locations. Plants are laid out under the existing native coast live oaks, and paths wind informally through them and down deep into the canyon, where Mission Creek flows over an antique dam constructed by members of the Chumash tribe for the Santa Barbara Mission, located far- ther down the canyon. The Campbell Bridge across the creek reveals a picturesque view of water spilling over boulders and between huge native sycamore trees (Platanus racemosa).23 Lockwood de Forest was involved with the Botanic Garden from the beginning. He helped Mrs. Bissell and others design the Desert Community in 1927, and in 1928 he was named the Garden‘s botanist. He also consulted on or designed various projects, including the information kiosk (1936‒37), beautiful benches of native sandstone, the Pritchett Trail (1940), and the Campbell Trail and Bridge (1941). De Forest was on the Landscape Commit- tee, formed in 1937, that produced the Garden‘s first Mas- ter Plan, an 11-page memo that spoke to the Garden‘s overall goals and outlined future planting and the general layout. A new pedestrian entrance opposite the enormous Blaksley Boulder (the Garden‘s natural centerpiece near the meadow) was part of the Plan. In the same year de For- est was appointed the Garden‘s landscape advisor—which came as a surprise to Farrand, who was being groomed for Native coast live oaks on the left formed a frame for the meadow at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden in de Forest’s this position by Mildred Bliss. Farrand was not appointed and Farrand’s plan. Photo © Susan Chamberlin, 1988 to the Garden‘s Advisory Committee until the end of 1938, ______

Eden: Journal of the California Garden & Landscape History Society · Vol. 14 No.. 2 • Spring 2011 17 Beatrix Farrand in Santa Barbara (continued)

De Forest became a member of the Board of Trustees dam‘s aqueduct, several structures, and ―the historic land- in 1942 but soon volunteered for service in World War scape design concept.‖ The landmark was renamed as II.26 However, he continued his involvement with the Gar- ―Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, Mission Dam and Aque- den and expressed his disagreements with Farrand via mail duct.‖ Despite this protected status as a Santa Barbara and when he was on leave. County Landmark, the Botanic Garden‘s administration In 1943 Farrand became a member of the Planning began a project in 2007 called the ‖Meadow Terrace,‖ Committee, and in 1944 a member of the Board of Trus- removing the aged, diseased oak tree that framed the view tees. Both landscape architects signed the 1943 landscape and constructing a paved plaza, with retaining walls and guidelines, which reaffirmed the 1937 Master Plan and lighting adjacent to the meadow. This major remodel added suggestions for parking, planting, and a 10-foot path changed the meadow‘s shape, frame, and ambience, pro- width for easier access. Farrand crusaded to get rid of voking a public outcry and a stop-work order from the parking around the Blaksley Boulder, and when she suc- County. ceeded in 1944, she shared the happy news with de Forest, as he had supported the proposed plan.27 Named Chief Con- sultant to the Garden in 1946, she wisely contin- ued to consult with de Forest. In 1948 they col- laborated on the design of the new parking lot and entrance steps, aligning them with the Blaksley Boulder—more formally than de Forest wished, but also less formally than Farrand hoped. De Forest died sud- denly in 1949. Due to age (78) and declining health, in 1950 Farrand retired

from the Board of Trus- After an ancient but declining oak tree that framed the meadow to the right was removed, construction tees. However, she contin- on the "Meadow Terrace" began in 2007.This remodel to the original oval meadow eventually added a paved ued to make suggestions and terraced plaza space with retaining walls that extended across the path into the meadow itself. The project is currently being dismantled. Photo © Susan Chamberlin, 2007. and donate small gifts. When she died in 1959, she left $20,000 to the Santa Bar- The Santa Barbara Botanic Garden‘s Vital Mission bara Botanic Garden. (development) Plan, approved in 2010, calls for many In 1995 landscape architects Douglas and Regula changes, including an entry bridge from the parking lot to Campbell published an opinion in the Santa Barbara the proposed new buildings that will replace the Manzanita News-Press complaining about the past decade of changes Garden behind the Blaksley Library. One of the Condi- to the Botanic Garden‘s design. They noted that the entry tions of Approval for the plan was removing the Meadow 29 sequence focusing on the Blaksley Boulder had been al- Terrace. Steve Windhager, who became the Garden‘s tered. The steps were fenced off, and a new entrance was new director toward the end of 2010, has already taken created, forcing visitors to enter closer to the gift shop.28 steps to implement the Plan. The Meadow Terrace is being The Garden‘s proposed development plan soon raised removed, and an oak tree will be planted to restore the widespread community concern. Perhaps to ease this dis- meadow‘s frame. How the former terrace space itself will approval, the Garden agreed in 2003 to expand their Santa be treated in terms of paving, planting, and grading was Barbara County Landmark status beyond one structure: the still being determined at press time. Mission Dam. Added were the Garden‘s historic core: the

______

18 Eden: Journal of the California Garden & Landscape History Society Vol. 14 No. 2 • Spring 2011 Beatrix Farrand in Santa Barbara (concluded)

Endnotes 1. Diane Kostial McGuire, Beatrix Jones Farrand (1872-1959): Fifty Years of American Landscape Architecture, Washington, DC, Dumbarton Oaks, 1982, p. 46. 2. Diana Balmori says she ―landscaped‖ it on page 186 of Beatrix Farrand’s American Landscapes: Her Gardens and Campuses by Balmori, Diane Kostial McGuire, and Eleanor M. McPeck, New York, Sagapress, 1985. The source of confusion may be that Bliss was in Farrand‘s client list. 3. These 1918 letters are in the Montecito History Committee archive (MHC.) Itemized expense lists and bills also indicate the scope of Riedel‘s work 4. A. Bliss to C.M. Winslow, August 13, 1916 and A. Bliss to S. Thorpe, April 20, 1917, MHC. Winslow‘s complete architectural plans, a property survey, and ―Plan of Grounds‖ are archived at UC Santa Barbara‘s Architecture and Design Collection. Except for some axial alignments, his formal intentions for the landscape are not clear from these and the handful of other drawings that show the site. 5. A. Bliss to S. Thorpe, November 13, 1916 and A. Bliss to S. Thorpe, May 30, 1917, MHC; multiple letters and telegrams on the subject as well. 6. Bruce Porter to A. Bliss, December 18, 1917 and S. Thorpe to B. Porter, January 3, 1918 and April 8, 1918 (see also E. Faive, to S. Thorpe, April 6, 1918). MHC. Porter completed an arch in Saratoga later, and it is tempting to speculate if the designs were related. 7. The entry sequence and general layout were described by Carleton Monroe Winslow in ―‘Casa Dorinda‘ A California Country House,‖ Architectural Forum, 34:1(January 1921), 9 and by James Frush, president, National Retirement Residences, Inc., ―Casa Dorinda Historical Background and Cultural Heritage,‖ preface, October 1973. Neither mention that an older house at the same location was demolished before construction began. 8. The photo (by Collinge) appears on page 418 of David F. Myrick‘s Montecito and Santa Barbara Volume II: The Days of the Great Estates, Glendale, Calif.: Trans-Anglo Books, 1991, and in publicity materials for the Casa Dorinda retirement home. 9. Ervanna Bowen Bissell pictures and locates the tree in Glimpses of Santa Barbara and Montecito Gardens, a book privately published by Bissell in Santa Barbara in 1926. Numerous other accounts mention the event. 10. Farrand‘s papers are in the UC Berkeley Environmental Design Archives, but the only plan from 1925 for the Bliss estate is a second story blueprint by H.D. Dewell, consulting engineer, San Francisco. The tower at Casa Dorinda was damaged in Santa Barbara‘s famous 1925 earthquake, so perhaps Farrand was called in to consult then. The Bliss letters in the Montecito History Committee archive are not extensive for this date. Nothing regarding Farrand was found. 11. A 1936 sketch is in the UC Berkeley Environmental Design Archive. 12. B. Farrand to M. Bliss, January 9, 1937 and March 18, 1937, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library (DO). The Farrand-Bliss correspondence is in the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library archive. Thanks to Linda Lott, Rare Book Librarian, and Francesca Galt of Santa Barbara for copies of the letters. I am also indebted to Kellam de Forest (son of Lockwood) and to Paulina Conn for supplying numerous materials relevant to the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden‘s design over the past ten years. 13. B. Farrand to M. Bliss, August 28, 1937 and September 16, 1937, DO. Farrand mentions Casa Dorinda plans in the same letter, but the plans were not found. 14. B. Farrand to M. Bliss, February 9, 1939, DO. 15. B. Farrand to M. Bliss, February 16, 1943, DO. 16. B. Farrand to M. Bliss, September 1, 1944, DO. 17. Anon, ―Historic Bliss Estate Becomes Site for Elegant Retirement Community.‖ Santa Barbara News-Press, August 19, 1973, E-1-2. Myrick includes a photo of the cypress and a note that it died on page 421. 18. An exception is Diane Kostial McGuire in Beatrix Jones Farrand: Fifty Years, 1982, who recognizes de Forest‘s many contributions. Other writers on Farrand at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden include Diana Balmori in Beatrix Farrand’s American Landscapes, 1985, and Judith Tankard, Beatrix Farrand: Private Gardens, Public Landscapes, New York, Monacelli Press, 2009. For the most comprehensive Botanic Garden discussion, see Mary Carroll, ―A Garden for All Time: The Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, 1926-2005,‖ Noticias (Winter 2004/ Spring 2005), 1-58. On de Forest, see David C. Streatfield, ―de Forest, Lockwood‖ in Pioneers of American Landscape Design, Charles A. Birnbaum and Robin Karson, eds., New York, McGraw-Hill, 2000, 92-95. 19. These quotes are from a letter from Charles A. Birnbaum, Founder and President of The Cultural Landscape Foundation, to Brooks Firestone, Chair, Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors, October 12, 2007; Birnbaum gave me a copy, and it is in the public record. 20. This quote, found on the www.sbbg.org Website and in numerous other publications, is from the Garden‘s Annual Report for 1926, and was produced by the first Blaksley Botanic Garden Committee, which included Anna Dorinda Blaksley Bliss among others. See also Carroll, ―A Garden for All Time,‖ 11. 21. Carroll, ―A Garden for All Time,‖ 14. 22. Annual Report by Ervanna Bowen Bissell, Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, 1930, quoted in Carroll, ―A Garden for All Time,‖ 14. 23. Designed by Lockwood de Forest in 1941, the Campbell Bridge (a county landmark) burned in the 2009 Jesusita Fire, and there are no firm plans at this writing about how or if it will be rebuilt. 24. A blueprint of this drawing is in the UC Berkeley Environmental Design Archives. See also Carroll, ―A Garden for all Time,‖ 31-32. 25. Anon, ―Guests Thrill to Beauty of Botanic Garden Visit,‖ Santa Barbara News-Press, April 15, 1945, Society Section. 26. He also served in World War I. 27. B. Farrand to L. de Forest, January 19, 1944, DO. Numerous previous letters from Farrand to Mildred Bliss mention parking issues. 28. Douglas & Regula Campbell, ―Botanic Garden Worthy of Commitment,‖ Santa Barbara New-Press, April 2, 1995, page G5. 29. The controversy was covered in past issues of Eden. The Garden did not bring their plans to the County Historic Landmarks Advisory Commission for review as required because when they applied for (and were granted) a building permit, they called the project an ―exhibit,‖ which would not warrant HLAC review.

Susan Chamberlin is a landscape historian with an MA in architectural history and a landscape architect’s license. She has lectured, written, and consulted on landscape history and is a founding member of CGLHS as well as its former Web- site Committee Chair. ______

Eden: Journal of the California Garden & Landscape History Society · Vol. 14 No.. 2 • Spring 2011 19 Preservation Matters

Balboa Park at Risk

It is said that ―No man ought to looke a given horse in the mouth,‖ but when the horse is being led down the wrong path, one needs to step back and raise a whisper into a yelp. Currently under consideration in San Diego is the generous promise of $39 million from entrepreneur and philanthropist Irwin M. Jacobs, founder of Qualcomm Communications, to upgrade venerable Balboa Park. His well- intentioned project entails returning the central Plaza de Panama to a pedestrian mall, mitigating vehicular intrusions, and adding more nearby parking space. These are all outcomes we San Diegans have yearned for, for at least three decades. What finally sparked this interest in ―doing the right thing‖ is the upcoming centennial of San Diego‘s Panama California Exposition, held in Balboa Park in 1915. Its finest architectural and landscaping features, many still extant and worthy of celebration, were designed by master architect Bertram Goodhue, with expert help from Frank P. Allen, Carleton Winslow, Sr., John Morley, Kate O. Sessions, and many others. Thanks to San Diego‘s plant-cultivating potential, the Expo was dubbed ―The Garden Fair.‖ Landscapeshdbalboaparkmap.jpg and gardens (JPEG exhibitedImage, 980x1280 subtropicals, pixels) - S calfloriculture,ed (55%) htt horticulture,p://www.sandiego.gov/p and lanning/programs/historical/graphi... agriculture in unprecedented displays. Even Sir Thomas Lipton from England planted rows upon rows of Camellia sinensis for afternoon tea! The San Diego fair ran coterminous to San Francisco‘s Panama-Pacific International Exposition, which was an effort, with the noblest of intentions, to rebuild the city after the 1906 earthquake. Since it was federally sanctioned and funded, its promoters could employ the word ―International.‖ San Diego‘s second fair, the 1935 California Pacific International Exposition, was one of many Depression- era expos meant to lift the dismal spirits of Americans and to promote the latest technologies. Held on a mesa adjacent to the site of the earlier fair, it was melded brilliantly with Goodhue‘s earlier work by lead architect Richard Requa, whose design narrative represented the arc of humanity from pagan to ultra-modern (which in those days meant Streamline Moderne). In the 1960s a portion of the 1915 Expo grounds was listed as a National Historic Landmark (NHL). When Balboa Park‘s master planning began in the late 1980s, the City‘s Historical Site Board, of which I was a member, expanded the boundary around both exposition areas, to total some 300 acres. City of San Diego Balboa Park Exposition National Register Boundary Credit: City of San Diego Website.

______

20 Eden: Journal of the California Garden & Landscape History Society Vol. 14 No. 2 • Spring 2011

1 of 1 11/23/2010 1:04 PM Preservation Matters (concluded)

When hearing about the mounting protests against the Jacobs-funded plans to redo parts of Balboa Park, you may ask, ―What is wrong with you people? Here is your opportunity to get all the elements for correcting mistakes of the past and look forward to a proud future!‖ Well, here is the conundrum: All the design proposals fall within the core of the park, and in some places they would obscure, subordinate, and alter its historic integrity. These immitigable alterations in some circles are viewed as unforgivable changes to the park‘s essence and character. Driving across the heroic Spanish-Colonial Cabrillo bridge from Laurel Street, you pass under the arch that displays two figurines—the Pacific (female) and the Atlantic (male) touching hands, as the ultimate metaphor for the Panama Canal; then head further along past the Quadrangle, California Tower, and Rotunda—essentially the logo and civic identity for San Diego; then on to the Plaza de Panama. Talk about an entry statement! The current redesign proposes a significant ―ramp‖ road that takes a 90-degree turn at the ceremonial arch and encircles this very entry statement, connecting to a peripheral parking lot, then continuing through the center of the park to the Organ Pavilion (built by sugar magnate John D. Spreckels), and finally ending at a three-story parking structure behind the pavilion. This ramp, in my opinion, is reminiscent of Disneyland‘s Tomorrowland. In fact, I think the Disney studio designers could have done better.

Entry ramp proposal within National Register Boundary. Source: All Media outlets.

There should be NO intrusion upon the dramatic entryway, in any form: This seems to be the consensus of all the people who come out to public meetings and with calm, professional, and at times humorous testimony plead with the design team to THINK AGAIN. Moreover, not shown in the design proposal rendering is the three-story parking structure behind the Organ Pavilion. Automobile storage is a function that should be placed in areas where nothing else is appropriate. There are alternatives to the design proposal! Nearby portions of the park are unusable as parkland because of their proximity to the I-5 freeway. For instance, land outside the National Register could be used, eliminating the need for an elaborate new road through the historic core of the park, and offering the opportunity for an efficient people-mover tram system. But the design team, at the expense of the reputation of a generous philanthropist, seems bent on retaining both the ramp-like roadway in some configuration and the parking structure in the core of the park. What to do? Ah, preservation advocacy is never simple. Cross your fingers for San Diego and Balboa Park … and we‘ll see what happens in the very near future. —Vonn Marie May Cultural Landscape Specialist CGLHS Regional Correspondent

______

Eden: Journal of the California Garden & Landscape History Society · Vol. 14 No.. 2 • Spring 2011 21

Book Reviews & News

Keywords in American Landscape Design Therese O‘Malley, with contributions by Elizabeth Kryder-Reid and Anne L. Heimreich. New Haven: Yale University Press, in association with the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts and the National Gallery of Art, 2010. 736 pages, $125.00. Keywords in American Landscape Design is a copiously illustrated dictionary of 100 terms relating to landscape design that were in common usage in America from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The cut-off date relates to the death of Alexander Jackson Downing in 1852. The audience for the exceptionally attractive and comprehensive book will undoubtedly be limited to garden scholars, art historians, and other academics. Weighing eight pounds and costing over $100, it may not appeal to casual readers, although its trove of nearly 1,000 illustrations ought to be a useful resource for landscape architectural firms. A copy belongs in every serious library relating to landscape studies and allied disciplines. Keywords in American Landscape Design includes three introductory essays on American garden history by its principal authors. The first focuses on how changing design practices relate to the broader social and cultural currents. The second essay discusses the written sources for landscape history, and the final one discusses the visual representation of the American landscape and the challenges of interpretation. In addition to detailed essays, there is an extensive bibliography that will be useful for librarians as well as scholars. The core of the book is the keywords, from Alcove to Yard, each one of which is supported by numerous period illustrations, a detailed definition, discussion of usage, and copious citations from literature arranged in chronological order. The visual representations, which contribute to a better understanding of the history of American landscape design, include portraits showing gardens and garden features in the background, early town plans, renderings, and the like. Exhaustive research into archives and published records supports each keyword and the illustrations. The range of terms includes structures (such arbor, aviary, bridges, dovecote, summerhouse, and temple), styles (English, Dutch, gardenesque, picturesque, rustic), types (arboretum, botanic garden, cemetery, ferme ornée, orchard, park), boundaries (border, fence, hedge, wall), planting arrangements (alley, bed, border, copse, shrubbery), and so on. The discussion of Flower Garden, for example, runs to 14 pages and is certainly comprehensive. The authors note that ―the meaning of the term flower garden remained relatively unchanged between 1650 and 1850, and the placement of the flower garden within a designed landscape, as well as the plants and their arrangement contained therein, helped distinguish it from other garden features.‖ In 1728, Batty Langley advised situating it within the wilderness, while J.C. Loudon (1826) was among the first to attempt to order and clarify the various types of flower gardens, from ―regular‖ and ―irregular‖ to ―modern.‖ The 19th century, of course, witnessed the emergence of the ―geometric‖ garden described by A.J. Downing as divided into square or rectangular plots and subdivided into geometric figures. In addition to the many styles and types of flower gardens, there was a growing awareness that these gardens also carried ―associations of status, wealth, and taste because of the expense of skilled gardening and of rare flower species.‖ One of the earliest citations referring to flower gardens is by John Lawson in 1709. ―The Flower-Garden in Carolina [North Carolina],‖ he wrote, ―is as yet arriv‘d but to a very poor and jejune Perfection.‖ One hundred years later, Bernard McMahon, the author of The American Gardener’s Calendar (1806), recommended: ―A commodious piece of good ground, for a flower-garden, situated in a convenient and well sheltered place, and well exposed to the sun and air, ought to be allotted for the culture of the more valuable flowers.‖ In 1851, the famous seedsman Joseph Breck suggested that a variety of annuals could be purchased for little money, but also recommended selecting plants from the woods and fields ―for those who wish to ornament their grounds at the least expense…. These will be more highly prized than many far-fetched plants that are trumpeted before the public from time to time, could they be seen grouped together in the flower-garden with the

______

22 Eden: Journal of the California Garden & Landscape History Society Vol. 14 No. 2 • Spring 2011 Book Reviews & News (continued) same care and cultivation bestowed upon them as upon some of the expensive exotics.‖ If only he were around today to learn the current thinking on collecting plants from the wild! In the end, although the subject matter is geographically diverse, the book is primarily devoted to the hubs of garden activity along the East Coast, namely New England, New York, and the South. Although scholarly in presentation, Keywords in American Landscape Design is an invaluable resource for all interested in American cu1tural history. The wealth of documentation in this volume is unlikely to be surpassed by any similar book for many years to come. —Judith B Tankard

California Gardens of the Arts & Crafts Period Eugene O. Murmann. Atglen, Pennsylvania: Schiffer Publishing Ltd., 2008. 115 pages, $24.95. Spanish Gardens & Patios Mildred Stapley Byne and Arthur Byne. Atglen, Pennsylvania: Schiffer Publishing Ltd., 2008. 305 pages, $29.95.

One of Schiffer Publishing‘s specialties is reprints of books which are long out of print, difficult to obtain, and once again of interest to designers and historians. Two of their recent publications which will interest California garden designers and historians are Eugene Murmann‘s California Gardens of the Arts & Crafts Period, originally published in I9l4 as California Gardens: How to plan and beautify the city lot, suburban grounds and country estate, and Mildred and Arthur Byne‘s Spanish Gardens & Patios, first published in 1924. The only thing the two books have in common is that they were both written to promote the authors‘ businesses. Murmann (1874‒1862) was born in Russia, came to Southern California as a youth, and was a multifaceted artist, designer, and nurseryman. Garden designers have long coveted California Gardens because it is one of the few garden books of this period which addresses appropriate planting for the simple bungalow. His purpose was to make it possible for anyone to have an artistic garden. The reprint omits the last page with Murmann‘s plant list and prices. For those not familiar with the book, it will be a revelation. Most surviving bungalow landscaping is limited to foundation shrubs, specimen trees, and annuals or perennials along the pathways. Murmann recommends far more elaborate and imaginative gardens. The first half of his book is a brief introduction followed by his photographs of Southern California gardens, large and small. The second half is a series of 50 plans for lots of different sizes and shapes in a wide range of styles accompanied by descriptions of its advantages and plants. Murmann did not limit himself to the perennial borders most frequently associated with the arts and crafts period. His plans include small formal gardens, Colonial gardens, natural gardens, landscape gardens, several types of Japanese gardens, rose gardens, and other specialized plant collectors‘ gardens. The pergola was a favored design element, complementing the bungalow and other popular architectural styles. Murmann himself is a subject worth pursuing. In addition to his garden design and nursery business, he was a furniture designer and an artist. The Special Collections at the Charles E. Young Research Library at UCLA has an archive of his work (1900‒1962), including his botanical drawings, watercolors, photographs, and the glass slides used for his nature study lectures. Mildred and Arthur Byne are well known in California for supplying Spanish architectural elements for San Simeon and for their further work with Julia Morgan, George Washington Smith, and other architects. Spanish Gardens & Patios is one of many large books they produced on Spanish arts, architecture, and design. Arthur Byne (1S84‒1935) was an architect, born in Philadelphia and educated at the University of Pennsylvania, who first went to Spain in 1910 under the sponsorship of Archer Huntington‘s Hispanic Society of America to catalogue medieval monuments. He ended up collaborating with his wife, the historian and writer, Mildred Stapley (1875‒1941), on elaborate folios on many aspects of Spanish design. They were also dealers in these same artifacts. William Randolph Hearst was one of their many important clients. After Mildred‘s death, their magnificent 1880s townhouse in Madrid was purchased by the United States Department of State and is now used by the US Deputy Chief of Mission to Spain. The Bynes were not the first to document Spanish art and architecture for the English-speaking world, but they were among the most prolific and accomplished. Arthur‘s photographs, renderings, and plans are all works of art themselves. Most (Continued on page 22.) ______

Eden: Journal of the California Garden & Landscape History Society · Vol. 14 No.. 2 • Spring 2011 23 Book Reviews & News (concluded)

of their books were translated into Spanish. The original volumes are scarce and can sell for up to several thousand dollars apiece. This reprint of Spanish Gardens &Patios is welcome. It begins with introductions to Spanish garden types and accessories, followed by more detailed documentation of the urban courtyards (patios) and then chapters on some of the best known gardens of Spain such as the Alhambra and Generalife in Granada and the Alcazar in Seville. The final section is devoted to the lesser known gardens of Majorca. The reprint cannot match the quality of the original reproductions of Arthur Byne‘s drawings and photographs, but leafing through the seductive images, it is easy to confuse bits of Byne‘s Spain with 1920s Santa Barbara or Pasadena. We must quickly remember that the Bynes were exporting tiles, fountains, iron stair rails, and other items that make so many California gardens memorable. Spanish Gardens & Patios was an important resource for architects and landscape designers during the 1920s and 1930s. Like Murmann, the Bynes are a fascinating story and also deserve further study. Many of the medieval Spanish artifacts at the Cloisters in New York were purchased by Hearst from the Bynes. The Hispanic Society of America in New York, though less well known, also contains a wealth of material they unearthed during their tenure in Spain. Both books can be ordered directly from Schiffer Publishing, through booksellers, or online. —Margaretta J. Darnall ————————————————————————————————————————————— The Water Resources Center Archives Has a New and Permanent Location ―UC Berkeley‘s archives of state‘s water history could evaporate‖ was the headline in the Contra Costa Times on 18 May 2010. The article by Mike Taugher reads in part: A treasure trove of California‘s water history kept at UC Berkeley for more than a half century could be moved or broken up because of budget cuts. The specialized water documents archive is the only such collection in the country, its supporters say. Nowhere else would one likely find under one roof promotional materials for the ―Reber Plan‖ to build a dam across the Golden Gate, old speeches about the peripheral canal, and original photographs of the construction of the Los Angeles aqueduct and of the aftermath of the deadly 1928 collapse of St. Francis Dam near Los Angeles. Academics, authors, consultants, engineers, government officials, lawyers, students, water districts and others use the statewide Water Resources Center Archives ... and some of them worry that U.C. administrators may allow it to close, move or scatter to the figurative winds. Some months ago, Marlea Graham conveyed this drastic warning, but we couldn‘t find space for either the above alert or her knowledgeable commentary about this important collection. But here it is, now: Readers may recall that in previous issues of Eden we have publicized the wonderful calendars of historic photographs produced by the archive each year. I am among those who on occasion have found some of the more obscure documents held in this archive useful. They hold the papers of hydraulic engineer John Samuel Eastwood, among others, and when I was doing some researching on just exactly who was responsible for the design and construction of Fresno‘s famous Kearney Boulevard (―Who Designed Chateau Fresno Avenue?‖ in Architecture, Ethnicity and Historic Landscapes of California’s San Joaquin Valley, 2008), a perusal of those papers helped to establish that Eastwood had surveyed and overseen the initial grading of the boulevard, but no more. Nothing but looking through Eastwood‘s ―Day Books‖ would have served the purpose. ―We specialize in collecting information nobody else has,‖ said archive director Linda Vida. ―These are the kinds of things you can‘t find at a regular library.‖ Nor can they be found online. A landmark case that enforced the restoration of Mono Lake hinged on reports that had been thrown away by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. Copies of those vital reports were found at the Berkeley archive. Requests have been sent out to UC‘s Davis, Riverside, and Merced campuses, asking them to provide a new home for the archive. So far nothing has been settled. Good news arrived in late January, announcing that the much-valued Water Resources Center Archives (WRCA) would soon be transferred from Northern to Southern California, to be located at UC Riverside‘s Orbach Science Library, home to the Water Science and Policy Center, but shared with Cal State San Bernardino, which harbors the Water Resources Institute. The WRCA has two main components: a circulating collection and a non-circulating archive. It is scheduled to open in late April. For more information, visit http:/wrca.library.ucr.edu . ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— Research Resource Closedown. Some of you may not know yet that due to serious fiscal problems, the Santa Barbara Botanic Library has closed its Blaksley Library and laid off its sole librarian, just as online access to a wealth of its images was about to start (as announced in the Fall 2010 Eden, p. 23). It is hoped that under the new director, Steven Windhager, a good solution will be found to keep the valuable collection intact and available for public use in the Santa Barbara area. Combined Rose List 2011. Orders are now being accepted for this ―must‖ reference book for gardeners of historic properties. It lists old roses in alpha order, followed by dates of introduction to commerce, breeder‘s name, brief descriptions and mail order sources for purchase from US, Canadian, and overseas nurseries. Softcover, 272 pages. Make checks or money orders for $24 payable to Peter Schneider, PO Box 677, Mantua, OH 44255.

Wish to suggest that a recently published or reprinted/revised book be reviewed in a future issue of Eden? Or might you like to contribute a review yourself? Contact book editor Margaretta J. Darnall at 1154 Sunnyhills Road, Oakland, CA 94610, or phone 510-836-1805. Please provide title, subtitle; author or editor name(s); publisher; and publication date.

______

24 Eden: Journal of the California Garden & Landscape History Society Vol. 14 No. 2 • Spring 2011 Websites/Archives to Visit

A great deal of the research done for the three-part article on ―The Other McLaren‖ (in Eden‘s Summer and Fall 2010 and Winter 2011 issues) was accomplished by working at home online. Two new to me websites were discovered in the process. The first was one that I‘d actually found long ago via Google searches, the Internet Archive (http://www.archive.org), but when journals such as Horticulture or Florists’ Weekly Review would come up on the Internet Archive Website through a Google search, they would freeze up my server every time I tried to view them. My new online friend, Lynne Ranieri, who writes for the Milburn-Short Hills, New Jersey Historical Society and aided me in the quest for the full history of Pitcher & Manda‘s United States Nursery, gave me a vital tip: Go directly to the source instead of through Google. I had no trouble downloading these journals when I started from the Internet Archive website instead of from the Google site. And when I type in the name of the journal I want, their website will list all the issues that they have in digitized format. Once the selected document opens, I pick the ―Read Online‖ option because this comes with a searching mechanism that can save you a great deal of time. Once you‘ve opened up the selected volume, look in the upper right corner for the search box and type in the name or subject you want: for example, ―MacRorie-McLaren.‖ You will then get a list of links in the column below to every pertinent citation found (and some that aren‘t pertinent, depending on how you search). You can then select from among those to see the entire item in context. This was an enormous help to me, as there are no California libraries that hold the earliest issues of Horticulture (1904>). The California State Library holdings start at 1909> but these are currently in off-site storage for the next few years during building renovations, and have to be paged in advance. The State Library also holds a few issues of Florists’ Weekly Review—but again, not the earliest issues from the 1890s, and not a full run of the later ones. I‘d have to go to a Chicago library to see those. There‘s no way to know—at least that I‘m aware of (other than to just try it out)—what you can find on the Internet Archive. To date, I‘ve found they have many volumes of Architect & Engineer, San Francisco city directories from the 1850s forward (also a scattering of directories for some other California cities), and the Building Review. Granted, the OCR (optical character recognition) is not ideal and won‘t turn up every single citation for ―McLaren‖ or whatever, so it pays to search from several different angles. ―California‖ is a bit too broad, but ―San Francisco‖ sometimes turned up items that didn‘t come up in the ―McLaren‖ search. The other truly new to me website is the Hathi Trust Digital Library (http://catalog.hathitrust.org/). Using Google, I had found tantalizing bits and pieces (limited view or no view) citations that clearly belonged to a biographical sketch of Daniel MacRorie—a real find as nowhere else had such material turned up on him. But it came from the 1916 Gardeners and Florists’ Annual, and a World Catalog search () told me that the closest library holding these volumes was the University of Minnesota. I was feeling fairly desperate and ready to draft one of my spouse‘s Minnesota relatives to pay a visit to the library on my behalf, when I found an online service the library provides that will photocopy articles as requested for a small fee, called InfoNow (http://infonow.lib.umn.edu/). [And I wonder why every library doesn‘t offer such a service? It seems like an excellent way for them to make some money—or at least provide some jobs for needy students while saving us researchers from having to drive all over creation.] When I sent in my request, they responded back very quickly and advised me that the article was already available for free online through the Hathi Trust website. It turns out that some things Google won‘t show you, the Hathi Trust will ... and there it was in all its glory, the full text of the MacRorie sketch. Hoorah for the Hathi Trust! A recent visit to the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley led me to a wall display about the San Francisco Examiner Photo Archive. It was donated to the Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley, in 2006, as a gift from the Fang family and the Anschutz Corporation. It consists of a whopping 3.6 million negatives and one million photo prints, and about doubles the size of the Bancroft‘s photo collection. The images date from 1925>2000. Grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Save America‘s Treasures are providing funding for stabilizing and preserving the collection. The collection is now available to the public for use. None of it is available online, but there is a searchable online Finding Aid: http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/hb6t1nb85b. There is also a Facebook link that will tell you more and actually show you a sampling of the images on file, including one of American Indians demonstrating on Alcatraz Island in the 1970s. A bit of landscape is visible in the background: http://www.facebook.com:80/pages/San-Francisco-Examiner- Photograph-Archive-at-The-Bancroft-Library/148970046707. —Marlea Graham ______

Eden: Journal of the California Garden & Landscape History Society · Vol. 14 No.. 2 • Spring 2011 25

Member News

CGLHS board member and landscape architect Kelly Comras was invited to participate at the ―Women and Modernism in Landscape Architecture‖ colloquium at Harvard‘s Graduate School of Design. The keynote speaker at the mid-February program was Thaïsa Way, University of Washington professor and author of Unbounded Practice: Women and Landscape Architecture in the Early Twentieth Century (U. of Virginia, 2009). The convocation focused on the worthy but often inadequately recognized work done by women landscape architects in the period after WWII. Notable participants were Rosa Grena Kliass of Brazil, Cornelia Hahn Oberlander of Canada, and Carol R. Johnson of Cambridge, Mass.—all in their 80s Sand still actively practicing. Kelly, one of four other presenters, lectured on ―Ruth Patricia Shellhorn: Her Mid-Century Practice and Development of the ‗Southern Shellhorn’s landscape design for the Town Square, California Look.‘‖ Many CGLHS members know she‘s writing a book about Shellhorn Main Street, and Plaza Hub at Disneyland was (1909‒2006), whom she knew personally. Acknowledging Kelly as her future completed in 1955 and photographed here in 1987. biographer, Shellhorn supplied many materials from her past work. Later, Kelly arranged Photo: Robert M. Fletcher. for the entire Shellhorn collection to be archived in UCLA‘s Special Collections. (See the Spring 2007Eden, pp. 15‒17.) Noel Vernon, Associate Dean of the College of Environmental Design at Cal Poly Pomona, will moderate the panel discussion on ―Postwar Women Practitioners in Southern California‖ in TCLF‘s ―Landscapes for Living‖ symposium, arranged by Charles Birnbaum and taking place in Los Angeles. (See entry on next page for April 15.) Kelly Comras will be among the 18 participants in that part of the program. Noel is on TCLF‘s Board and has been an officer in the ASLA‘s Historic Preservation Interest Group. In line with her campaign to enlist more landscape preservationists in the recordation of SoCal sites with HALS, she hopes tie-ins will come from City of Los Angeles landscapes identified as having historic value in the ongoing ―Survey LA‖ project done by the Office of Historic Resources within the Dept. of City Planning. For information, visit www.Surveyla.org. To contact Noel about possible short format HALS recordation training, e-mail her at [email protected]. Eden editor Barbara Marinacci received the ―Golden Sparkplug‖ award conferred by the Pacific Palisades Community Council for initiating projects that benefit this coastal town in LA. She is resuscitating a long-abandoned native plant garden in a city park and regularly eradicates invasive plants in nearby state parks. Also, she wrote grants that launched an ambitious effort to landscape the grounds around a nearby fire station and beautify a nearby section of Los Liones Gateway Park (part of Topanga State Park). The Pitschel Prize: The Winter 2011 Eden reported the passing of Barbara Pitschel, the San Francisco Botanical Garden‘s head librarian. SFBG Society initiated an essay contest as a tribute. Entries on plant or garden topics were submitted by SF high school students. Three cash awards will be announced on May 31, with the first-place winner‘s essay to be published in Pacific Horticulture. Tax-deductible donations are welcomed to support the contest‘s continuation. Contact [email protected]. Garden writer Paula Panich continues conducting art and literary garden-oriented programs in the Greater Los Angeles area. She recently participated with Rhett Beavers and Mitchell Bishop (curator of historic collections at the LA County Arboretum) in a UCLA Landscape Architecture course in advanced design and historic preservation, titled ―Ephemeral Landscapes: Storytelling as a Design Strategy.‖ (Also see April 16> listing on next page.). Dot Brovarney is curator of an exhibit celebrating the 150th birthday of native plantsman, landscape designer, and botanist Carl Purdy. ―A Passion for Plants & Place‖—providing glimpses into Mendocino County‘s botanical and social history— will run from April 16 to October 30 at the Mendocino County Museum in Willits. Visit www.MendocinoMuseum.org. We were honored and delighted that the talk by author Judith Tankard at the Huntington Library could be a second-day feature in our final ―Tour & Talk‖ event in 2010, focusing on Beatrix Farrand‘s work in the Pasadena area (see pp. 1-14). Her Beatrix Farrand: Private Gardens, Public Landscapes was named an honor book for the Historic New England Book Prize in 2010. Her new book, Gertrude Jekyll and the Country House Garden: From the Archives of Country Life (Rizzoli), will be published in May, and numerous lectures and book signings have been scheduled in New York, Boston, London, and elsewhere. Judith Tankard Photo: Eric Roth Please send us your own news! >>> [email protected]. ______

26 Eden: Journal of the California Garden & Landscape History Society Vol. 14 No. 2 • Spring 2011

Coming Events

April 15: The Garden Conservancy‘s 6th Annual Garden Design Seminar—an all-day seminar on ―Sustainability, Aesthetics, and Gardens with Integrity.‖ Given at the Golden Gate Club at the Presidio. For information, admittance prices, and online registration, visit www.gardenconservancy.org or call the GC‘s SF office at 415-441-4300. April 16 & 30, May 14 & 21 (Saturdays): ―Four Writers, Four Landscapes, Four Passions,‖ a seminar series in UCLA Extension‘s Landscape Architecture program led by CGLHS member Paula Panich. Examining the life and work of featured writers Chekhov, Edith Wharton, Mary Austin, and M.F.K. Fisher, it will offer ―insight into our own attachment to where we live and places alive in memory.‖ Visit www.theliterarygardener.com. Contact Andrea Swanson: 310-825-9414 or e-mail [email protected].

April 15: CGLHS is proud to be a co-sponsor of ―Landscapes for Living: Post War Landscapes for Architecture in Los Angeles.‖ The program includes a full day of lectures and a closing reception. CGLHS members Carolyn D. Bennett, Kelly Comras, David Streatfield, and Noel D. Vernon are speaking. CEU credits offered. To learn more, visit http://tclf.org/event/landscapes-living-post -war-landscape-architecture-los-angeles.

May 1: The Garden Conservancy‘s Open Days Program in LA area. Self-guided tours of six private gardens in Pasadena. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. . No reservations required. Cost: $5 per garden or $25 for all six gardens. Children 12 and under free. For information about all the Open Days locations and the gardens on view and where to pick up maps and tickets, visit www.operndaysprogram.org or call The Conservancy toll-free weekdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST, 1-888-843-2442. (The 2011 Open Days national directory is available for $19.50.) May 1: Stanford Historical Society offers an ―architectural sampler‖ (1‒4 p.m.) of five historic houses, including Frank Lloyd Wright‘s Hanna House. Visit http://histsoc.stanford.edu/programs.shtml, e-mail [email protected], or call 650-324-1653 or -725-3332. May 7. The Garden Conservancy‘s Open Days Program in the San Francisco Peninsula area. See May 1 listing above for basic price and contact information. May 15: The Garden Conservancy‘s Open Days Program in LA area, featuring six private gardens in Brentwood and Santa Monica. See May 1 listing above for basic price and contact information. May 15−18: The California Preservation Foundation‘s annual conference will take place at the Fairmont Miramar Hotel in Santa Monica. Its theme will be ―Preservation on the Edge,‖ with sessions, workshops, and study tours that address important issues facing professionals and volunteers involved with preservation projects. For information, visit http://www.californiapreservation.org/, call 415- 495-0349, write to CPF at 5 Third St., Suite 424, San Francisco, CA 94103; or e-mail [email protected]. May 21: The Garden Conservancy‘s Open Days Program in San Francisco. See May 1 listing above for basic contact information. June 4: The Garden Conservancy‘s Open Days Program in Marin County. See May 1 listing above for basic contact information. June 12‒24: ―Preserving Jefferson‘s Gardens and Landscapes‖—a 2-week program given by the Historic Landscape Institute at Monticello, in Charlottesville, VA. Apply by April 18..Contacts: phone 434-984-9836, or e-mail [email protected], June 27−29: ―Scales of Nature—From Urban Landscapes to Urban Gardens.‖ Visit www.ifla2011.com or www.twitter.com/ifla2011. July 31: Short format histories are due for submissions to HALS‘ 2011 Challenge: ―Celebrating Cultural Landscapes of Diversity.‖ Visit www.nps.gov/hdp/standards/halsguidelines.htm. (Also see ―HALS News‖ textbox on p. 23 of the Winter 2011 issue of Eden.)

September 9‒11 SAVE THE DATE! CGLHS will hold its 2011 conference in San Luis Obispo and SLO County. See page 29 for a brief preview of coming attractions.

September 17‒18: ―What‘s Out There Weekend‖ in San Francisco. TCLF will host a series of interpretive tours highlighting the SF Bay Area‘s rich and diverse heritage of Modernist-designed landscapes. Members of the public can visit any or all of a network of 25 publicly accessible sites and participate in free tours given by expert guides, who will give the stories behind each place. Among them are the Kaiser Center Roof Garden in Oakland , SF‘s Levi‘s Plaza, and Santa Clara‘s Central Park. This weekend connects with the Web-based ―What‘s Out There,‖ The Cultural Landscape Foundation‘s searchable database of designed US landscapes. Visit www.tclf.org. October 11−14: The Association for Preservation Technology (APT) will hold its annual conference in Victoria, BC, and cultural landscapes will be one of its theme tracks. Abstracts are due in Spring 2011. A 2-day workshop about current cultural landscape issues and activities will be held following the conference. For more information, e-mail Hugh C. Miller: [email protected]. October 30−November 2: Annual meeting of ASLA (American Society of Landscape Architects) and Expo, at the San Diego Convention Center. HALS will hold a subcommittee meeting there of the Historic Preservation Professional Practice Network. Visit www.asla.org.

______

Eden: Journal of the California Garden & Landscape History Society · Vol. 14 No.. 2 • Spring 2011 27 CGLHS Message Board

I am honored and delighted to be serving as your new president. I am looking toward the next two years with eagerness and full of thoughts about what we can accomplish together in CGLHS to celebrate our shared love for gardens and landscape. Your board has been making plans—not just for this year but also for the future. We spent a full day in early February working with a management consultant (a specialist in nonprofit organizations) to map out a three-year strategy and to set workable goals. Much of what we will be working on in the coming months is to develop a strong infrastructure for the operation of CGLHS. We plan to make better use of digital technology for communication with members and others, and to secure safe storage of our files. We are also undertaking responsible financial planning to meet our increased operating costs. To the points of digital communication and reducing operating costs, this issue of Eden has been sent electronically to all members who have given us their e-mail addresses. For now, everyone is still receiving Eden by USPS 1st-class mail. If you did not receive a digital copy this month, please contact Membership Secretary Libby Simon at [email protected] and provide your e-mail address. Two years ago, our then-board was asked why members gave freely of their time serving CGLHS. To no one‘s surprise, we all revealed we cared passionately for our garden and landscape heritage—and want to share our love and knowledge with each other. We also all spoke of enjoying each other‘s company—and our desires to come together to visit historic gardens and landscapes. We also want to learn about botanical and historical archives and libraries. (Our board meetings take place two to three times a year in locations throughout the state. In addition to our formal meeting, we take time to go garden touring.) We want to make this important and wonderful enjoyment of each other‘s company a visible and continuous opportunity for members and their guests. One of the stated goals of the organization is ―to offer opportunities for a lively interchange among members at meetings, garden visits, and other events.‖ That goal and the desire to meet our local members and attract new members prompted a new CGLHS program. Early in 2010, four Los Angeles members planned a series of five day-long field trips to sites in Los Angeles county—Tours and Talks, as we named it. Speaking for myself, I had a great time attending Tours and Talks. I met many interesting people, learned from our generous hosts and their engaging sites. Our last Tour and Talk event was scheduled to coincide with CGLHS member Judith Tankard‘s talk at the Huntington on Beatrix Farrand. Board member and Tours & Talks committee member Ann Scheid researched Farrand‘s work in and around the Huntington, and took us on a tour of four Farrand sites. Ann also wrote a tour guide as a keepsake of the day. We decided that we wanted to share Ann‘s work with all our members, and asked her to adapt it to be published in this Spring ―Beatrix Farrand issue‖ of Eden. I know you will enjoy as much as our 45 tourists did. We are now working under the leadership of Marlise Fratinardo on the next season of Tours and Talks. The plans are to expand the program statewide. We hope to announce details soon. If you are interested in helping to plan a Tours and Talks event in your area, please contact Marlise at [email protected]. Judy M. Horton President, CGLHS [email protected] ———————————————————————————————————————————————————— Our editor, Barbara Marinacci, has done a fantastic job of ushering Eden into a new era. We are moving towards a greater Web-based presence and are developing content-themed issues that address special topics of interest to our readers. Barbara took on the almost impossible task of succeeding our talented and devoted Editor Emerita, Marlea Graham, and brought a fresh new eye to the process, while retaining many of the features of Eden that we have all grown to love. We owe Barbara a very heartfelt thank-you for her patience, perseverance, and editorial acuity. Moreover, Barbara has produced a new CGLHS brochure to be used in telling people about our organization and its mission, and encouraging them to become members. Please ask to be sent a supply, or print from a pdf, so you can pass it out at meetings and among friends and acquaintances who like landscapes and gardens, locally and in California, and wish to learn more about them. But this is not all that Barbara does! She was recently chosen for a ―Golden Sparkplug‖ award given by the Pacific Palisades Community Council for her intensive and good-humored efforts as a local ―garden activist.‖ I am deeply grateful to her for all that she does for both CGLHS and our community, and I am proud to call her a friend. Kelly Comras Communication Committee and Editorial Board Chair [email protected] ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— Eden‘s new Editorial Board has initiated the plan of having ―themed issues‖ in which guest editors will undertake the challenge of writing and/or inviting knowledgeable others to contribute feature articles about landscapes or gardens, and their creators, in the chosen topic area for publication. Beatrix Farrand‘s work in Southern California is presented here by guest editor Ann Scheid. Our Summer issue will focus on San Luis Obispo County, under Christy O‘Hara‘s guidance, and San Diego will get the spotlight in Fall. The San Francisco Bay Peninsula area is a suitable choice for Winter 2012. And since we wish to have an issue focusing on playgrounds and amusement parks as important cultural landscapes in California, please contact the editor to propose authoring an article on this general subject or a particular place. We also welcome your suggestions for themes or subjects appropriate for future publication in this CGLHS journal. Please see the contact information given in the EDEN box on page 30, then tell us about your proposed project (or perhaps something published elsewhere that might be reprinted), and ask for our Editorial Guidelines. ______

28 Eden: Journal of the California Garden & Landscape History Society Vol. 14 No. 2 • Spring 2011

EDEN Eden (ISSN 1524-8062) is published four times yearly (Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall) by the California Garden & Landscape History Society, a nonprofit organization as described under Section 501(c)(3) of the IRS code. Editor: Barbara Marinacci, 501 Palisades Drive / #315, Pacific Palisades, CA 90272-2848. Tel: 310-459-0190. E-mail: [email protected].

Eden: Call for Content Eden solicits your submissions of scholarly papers, short articles, book reviews, information about coming events, news about members‘ activities and honors, and interesting archives or Websites you have discovered. In short, send us anything pertaining to California‘s garden and landscape history that may be of interest to CGLHS members. Also, more regional correspondents reporting on local landscape preservation concerns, efforts, and accomplishments will be welcomed, along with other relevant issues. For book reviews, notices of interesting magazine articles, museum exhibits, and the like, please write to Associate Editor Margaretta J. Darnall, 1154 Sunnyhills Road, Oakland, CA 94610. All other submissions should be sent to Eden editor Barbara Marinacci (see above contact information) Deadlines for submissions are the first days of January, April, July, and October.

EDEN Staff Editor ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. . Barbara Marinacci Editorial Board: …………………………………………….………………..Kelly Comras, Phoebe Cutler, Paula Panich, Ann Scheid Consultant & Eden Editor Emerita ..……………………………………………………………………………….….. Marlea Graham Regional Correspondents……….. Phoebe Cutler (SF Bay Area), Kathryn Lyon (Central Coast), Vonn Marie May (San Diego Area)

Our heartfelt thanks to these organizations and individuals who support us at the Sustaining and Institutional levels:

CGLHS’s Institutional Members: CGLHS’s Sustaining Members: Helena Babb Aaron Landworth Brooklyn Botanic Garden Library Karen Bartholomew Sherry Light Descanso Gardens Carolyn Bennett Gary Lyons David Blackburn Carol McElwee Elizabeth F. Gamble Garden John Blocker & Thea Gurns Margaret Mori, FASLA Historic Resources Group Denise A. Bradley Donivee & Merrill Nash Ric Catron Denise Otis Homestead Museum Susan Chamberlin Michael James Reandeau Huntington Library Betsy Clebsch Ann Scheid Robin Corwin Kathleen & Don Slater Lenhardt Library of the Chicago Botanic Garden Patricia Cullinan Peggy & Bruce Stewart Miller Library / U. of Washington Botanic Garadens Beverly R. Dobson David C. Streatfield Ann M. Dwelley Judith B. Tankard Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden Gerald A. Flom Judith M. Taylor, MD Rancho Los Alamitos Betsy G. Fryberger Marc Treib Frances M. Grate Richard Turner, Jr. San Francisco Botanical Garden Society Sherrin Grout L. & M. Van Fossen Storrier-Stearns Japanese Garden April Halberstadt Noel D. Vernon Mary Pat Hogan Sam Watters The Garden Conservancy Judy M. Horton Jacquoline Williams UC Berkeley / Environmental Design Library Saburo Ishihara & Mary Ishihara Swanton UC Riverside / Science Library Honorary Life Members: Virginia Gardner, Marlea Graham, and William A. Grant

______

30 Eden: Journal of the California Garden & Landscape History Society Vol. 14 No. 2 • Spring 2011 Join CGLHS—or Renew Your Membership

New Renew Membership Category: Individual $30 Household $40 Sustaining $60 and above. Institutional $50 (organizations and businesses that support the mission of CGLHS) Name(s) ______Address ______City ______State ______ZIP ______Phone: Work ______Home ______FAX ______E-mail ______Profession/organization affiliation/area of interest:______Return this form along with your check made payable to CGLHS to: Christy O‘Hara / CGLHS Treasurer / 11730 San Marcos Road / Atascadero, CA 93422 Please send address and other changes or questions to [email protected]. As a matter of policy, CGLHS does not share its membership lists with other organizations, and that policy extends to e-mail addresses as well.

California Garden and Landscape History Society (CGLHS) is a private nonprofit 501(c)(3) membership organization devoted to: celebrating the beauty and diversity of California’s historic gardens and landscapes; promoting wider knowledge, preservation, and restoration of California’s historic gardens and landscapes; organizing study visits to historic gardens and landscapes as well as to relevant archives and libraries; and offering opportunities for a lively interchange among members at meetings, garden visits, and other events. The Society organizes annual conferences and publishes EDEN, a quarterly journal. For more information, visit www.cglhs.org.

Locations & Years of CGLHS’s Conferences: CGLHS Board of Directors (2011–2012) 1995 – Santa Cruz (founding) 1996 – Santa Barbara (Spring) Officers San Diego (Fall) President ...... Judy M. Horton 1997 – UC Berkeley (Spring) Vice President ...... Aaron Landworth Huntington Gardens, San Marino (Fall) Recording Secretary (pro tem) ...... Ann Scheid 1998 – Sacramento Membership Secretary ...... Libby Simon 1999 – Long Beach (Rancho Los Alamitos) Treasurer ...... Christy E. O‘Hara 2000 – Monterey Immediate Past-President ...... Thomas Brown 2001 – Sonoma Members-at-Large 2002 – San Juan Capistrano Nancy Carol Carter, Kelly Comras, Phoebe Cutler, Gary Lyons, 2003 – Stanford University (SF Peninsula) Sandra Price, Katharine Rudnyk, Ann Scheid 2004 – Riverside Founder: William A. Grant 2005 – Napa Valley (10th anniversary) 2006 – Saratoga (Westside of Silicon Valley) CGLHS Committee Chairs 2007 – Los Angeles (for Japanese-style gardens) Communications ………………………………… Kelly Comras 2008 – Lone Pine and Owens Valley Governance ..……………………..………… Nancy Carol Carter 2009 – UC Berkeley (SF Bay Area) Finance ………………………………………. Christy E. O‘Hara Events ………………………. Aaron Landworth & Sandra Price 2010 − Santa Cruz (15th anniversary) Fundraising and Marketing ………………………… Gary Lyons 2011 − San Luis Obispo

______

Eden: Journal of the California Garden & Landscape History Society · Vol. 14 No.. 2 • Spring 2011 31 Libby Simon / 3302 Descanso Drive / Los Angeles, CA 90026

FIRST CLASS MAIL

Address Correction and Forwarding Requested

Contents in This Issue of EDEN: Beatrix Farrand in Southern California, 1927‒1941 by Ann Sheid ………………………………………... 1-13 A CGLHS Tour & Talk in the Pasadena area featuring Beatrix Farrand‘s work …….…….…….……..14 Beatrix Farrand in Santa Barbara by Susan Chamberlin ………………………….…… 15-19 Preservation Matters: Balboa Park at Risk (San Diego) by Vonn Marie May …………………….………..… 20-21 Book Reviews & News Keywords in American Landscape Design ……….... 22-23 California Gardens of the Arts & Crafts Period and Spanish Patios & Gardens ………….………. 23-24 The Water Resources Center Archives and other reports ……………………………..…….. 24 Websites/Archives to Visit, by Marlea Graham ……….….. 25 Member News ……………………………………...…….. 26 Coming Events ………………………………….…….….. 27 CGLHS Message Board ……...……….………………….. 28 Our Annual Conference in SLO in September…. .……….. 29 Change the Landscape—Preserve the Culture UC Berkeley Extension program ad ………………….. 29 Information about Eden and CGLHS.………………..... 30-31 The fountain in Caltech’s Dabney Courtyard continues to make its strong Art Deco statement in colorful tiles. Photo: Libby Simon.